S-Series
by Rinny Queenston
Summary: Akuma have pushed humans back to facilities protected by the Black Order, their development of superhumans being the only thing keeping them from extinction. During a failed shipment from Central, Cross finds a functional unit among the wreckage. Now, while being chased by everything but themselves, they find themselves in a greater mess than they could ever prepare for. Scifi AU.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** **So since it's DGM week, I thought it'd be good to upload part of something I've been working on for a year now (it'll be a year on July 20th wow). I was hoping to finish it before I uploaded anything but with the current standing of the fandom I thought it'd be appropriate to do it now! I hope you enjoy!**

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The cold rain fell in sheets across the darkened hillside, flattening the grass against the ground, but not taking away from the tracks carved through it. An object was crumpled in the mud, its headlights the only source of light as they shined at nothing but the distant trees, the road left abandoned at the top of the hill with its metal barrier reaching outwards, splintered like fingers reaching for the dead.

Around the crumbled object were shrouded capsules, and near them a figure attempted to pull itself out of the mud. The soil held onto him desperately, and as he broke away it was with a silent pop, but he almost stumbled right back into the soggy mess of mud and grass. He barely caught himself with his single arm, barely able to see his skin under the layers of mud, blending it in with the ground behind it. As the figure sat up, he tried to take in the scenery, the cold rain making him shiver as it pattered against his skin, weighing him down and barely cleaning any of the mud off of him. He tried to think of where he was, but could only make out that it was cold.

After deciding that it didn't matter where he was, he attempted to stand, staggering and sliding a few inches in the mud. Once he was upright, he barely dared to move, taking in the sight of the crumpled heap of metal beside him, but his mind was unable to decipher what it was. He stared at it, then the lights, then the multitude of shapes around him that barely shined in the light and terrible darkness.

He could see the droplets of water rolling down the side of the capsules, slight glimmers that also appeared on the ground all around him. In continuing his search, he spotted a box made of beams, leaning at a haphazard angle but boasting a slab that protected some of the ground from the rain. The earth beneath it, by what he could tell, wasn't nearly as wet or as slippery as it was near him, drawing him to take a step towards it and immediately yelping as something bit his soles.

Startled by his own noise and the stinging pain on the bottoms of his feet, he stumbled backwards and slipped, crashing down before screaming as the pain now danced along his back and the nape of his neck. His breath came in shivers as he tried to sit up again, feeling the pain along his back stinging violently but then immediately being numbed by the cold rain.

Confused, his eyes racked the ground around him, spotting several glimmering shards. They were clear and nearly invisible, lost between the blades of grass where they were nestled. He cautiously reached out to a shard nearest to him, and as he picked it up he winced and immediately dropped it, looking at his fingers to see what happened, though through the mud he couldn't see anything despite the stinging telling him that something was wrong. With a grimace, he dismissed it and fought to stand again, and with his eyes locked on what appeared to be shelter from the rain, he tried to step through it again.

At once, the glimmer bit at his feet, and he scrambled to get past it before he slipped again, crashing onto his chest and hissing when the glimmer bit him there, too, along with the bottom of his face. His fingers clawed at the mud and the loose blades of grass to pull himself out of it, and as he pushed himself under the shelter, he found the ground to be made of the slabs that also made up the walls and the roof. The rain didn't fall on him, though an occasional drop kissed his skin as it dripped through the slabs.

He limped to the wall, and slowly he sat down against it, though as he leaned his back against the wood he whimpered and moved away at once, bringing his hand around to try and cease the pain. His hand didn't do anything, and furrowing his brows he then turned his attention to the scene in front of him again.

The crumpled shape was harder to see at the distance, but he traced the outlines he could find in the darkness. At that point, he sighed, attempting to wipe his face and only leaving it dirtier. He wrinkled his nose and huffed, shaking his head as though it would disperse the feeling of dirt on his face. The frustration built when the mud was now so much more prevalent on his skin, heavy and wet, along with the pain that didn't go away and yet was undetectable with his eyes. The cold that sunk through his skin and into his bones, too, made water leak from his eyes, and he found himself hissing at the tight and hot feeling around them, but running into the same problem of not being able to wipe the tears away.

Curling his legs to his chest, he wrapped his only arm around them and their black, baggy appearance, and placed his chin on top of his knees. His shivers were slowing, and his eyelids were growing unbearably heavy. He saw no reason not to close them, and as he did, the heaviness spread to the rest of his body. A strange, light feeling overcame his mind, but it was broken by a sound that tore through the air, startling him from his doze.

At once, his eyes snapped open, and he looked up to find the source of the sound. His eyes caught a figure racing down the side of the hill from the broken metal barrier, stumbling and sliding on the slick mud and grass. They ran along the crumpled heap of metal, checking the front of it before searching the capsules that littered the ground. The one by the wooden structure watched, his breath falling nearly still, until the figure he was watching stopped, then began running towards him.

His heart immediately raced, and he lunged to his feet to run, not liking the appearance of someone running towards him, but the other figure caught up before he could take two steps and grabbed him with its arms. He shrieked, his own voice scaring him, but he didn't stop thrashing, hearing the figure growl at him.

After a struggle, the figure turned him around, and he could see one distinct eye looking at him, red and aggressive enough to put a chill down his spine. The figure didn't move when they had him still, and when they opened their mouth he could only hear growling. He stared blankly, and the figure stopped making the sounds, the lines in their face becoming more severe as the growls came faster, lower.

A nervous whine passed by his lips, but the figure seemed to stop growling then. With a heavy breath, the figure then moved, grabbing him and lifting him off the ground as he gave a loud and shrill wail. He struggled to grasp what he could, and he found that gripping the long strands of red only resulted in a snarl and then a sharp pinch of pain on his leg, which made him release the strands. There was more growling, but he tried not to shiver even after they entered the curtain of rain again. It soaked them both, and he found himself sinking into the figure simply because it seemed to give off warmth.

The figure climbed the hill to another hunk of metal, its own lights illuminating a black trail that continued into the shadows. The figure held him with only one arm while they opened one side of the metal object, and he stared at it with wide-eyes until he was shoved inside of it. The interior was soft and dry, the air warm, and so he immediately relaxed.

From the figure was a few growls, but then they gave another agitated breath before leaning in, taking a strap that he hadn't noticed and stretching it over his chest to where it clicked at his opposite side. When it grated on his chest he hissed with pain, the figure at once reaching to pull the strap off his skin without undoing what fastened it in place. Their free hand then brushed some of the mud free, their red eye sharp and intense. He tried to follow its stare.

His chest was covered in some sort of black material, shining pieces of glimmer sticking to it along his chest, but exposing his stomach. The figure was quick to pull the shining pieces of glimmer free before replacing the strap, growling a few times before retreating from the space, reentering it only a few moments later, but ahead of him. They were separated by two soft but sturdy shapes that they sat on, and he curiously reached up to feel the material, only to get hissed at.

He pulled his hand back and jolted as some force made him move, though as his back connected with the wall of softness behind him, he found himself crying out again. The figure barely looked at him this time, growling under his breath once before returning his attention to the space ahead of him.

The shifting attention made him realize that the lines on the road were coming towards them but vanishing beneath what they sat in, the occasional jostle and rumble alerting him that something was moving, though he had trouble comprehending it. He tried to search his space, finding his only arm, but then realized the figure had two arms instead of just one. With a slight grimace, he looked to his left side, only to see nothing there but stark black lines covering the edge where his arm have started.

His hand came up to trace the lines, finding no difference in textures to make them any different from the rest of his skin. Only when the rhythm of rumbling and shuddering changed did he look up again, spotting a big shadow against the backdrop of darkness, but with several dim lights coming out of it.

They returned to being still, and the figure ahead of him exited the space before pulling him from it. He was made to stand while the figure threw a black piece of fabric that it was wearing over his shoulders instead. The fabric immediately made him warm, protecting him from the assaulting droplets of rain. Before he could focus on it for too long, however, the figure shut the doors and pulled him up to the large looming shadow, standing before a large slab of wood. The figure brought up his hand and banged the side of it against the wooden slab in front of them.

Not sure what to expect, he waited, only for the slab to swing inwards, revealing a short figure with large black splotches around both of its eyes. He stared at it at a loss, barely registering that they were making sounds that the larger figure beside him responded to with growls. The short figure's eyes were sharp and made him uncomfortable, but the figure beside him had a strong grip on his arm, preventing him from backing away.

He stared at the shorter figure's long grey tuft atop its head and the deep lines on its face, but his concentration was broken when the figure beside him yanked him inside, ignoring his yelp and the scuffle of his feet as he tried to keep his balance.

Inside, it was warm. It smelled different, too, and he found himself swaying as he tried to decipher what it was about the place that felt so comforting. The walls were similar to the shelter he was leaned up against, but other than that, nothing was similar, so there was no reason for him to feel anything for this place.

They walked to a deep portion of the space, to a room that opened up with several wooden items that stood on wooden pegs. The figure that led him pulled him around near one of the smaller items, but then took his face in their hands. They were growling, but the smaller figure was responding with smaller noises, not waiting for him to give any sort of reaction. While they communicated, the red figure stared intently at him before turning their attention to the markings on his shoulder.

He found himself unable to pull his attention away from the red figure as he began intensively inspecting his left side as well, brushing some of the mud and any pieces of glimmer he found off as he did so. Their features looked more menacing the longer they looked at him, but then they soon put him onto the nearest item.

As he sat on it, he watched as the two figures walked back and forth, their voices both hissing but loud, and after a few thumps sounded overhead, suddenly a third figure was in the room.

His eyes widened as the figure, also only having one eye, spotted him, its mouth forming an 'O' as they stared at him. When they began to make noise, it was fast and loud, and he found himself darting his gaze between the two he was most familiar with to see their reactions. They growled at the newcomer and appeared to disregard what it was trying to do, but then the new figure disappeared into another space, only to quickly return with a small black hoop.

They handed it to the red figure, and the figure at once wrapped it around his neck. He reached up to touch it at once, not liking where it was as it made it hard to swallow, threatening his ability to breathe, but quickly had his hand smacked away. He turned to made an unhappy sound at the figure, but then a sharp jab reminiscent of the glimmer stabbed the back of his neck. The jab froze him in place, eyes staring at nothing for a few moments, with his ears barely registering the sounds around him.

Then, slowly, the hoop was removed, and as it came into view, his eyes locked on it.

It was a collar.

He blinked, unsure of how he knew that, but then he took another look at the room around him. Slowly, things began to come together, a dull, throbbing tingle cascading up his spine every time he recognized something new.

Table. Chairs. Kitchen. The people around him; humans.

He was a human, too.

The figures around him, all men if he had to guess, were talking, their voices now less threatening compared to before, and he stared at them, trying to comprehend what they were saying. In his efforts, he found himself locking onto the newest member, the youngest man with an eyepatch and wild orange hair, who seemed to notice him after a moment, and smiled at him. He seemed to be waiting for him to do something, every few moments his attention getting captured by the others, only to come back to him once his attention was lost.

"-o… 'e shou-… … us -ow?" the one with orange hair suddenly said, turning his attention away for only moment. He blinked at him as he managed to piece the sounds together, somehow.

The shorter man crossed its… his… arms, looking at the one with orange hair as it spoke, "Yes. It was a basic upl… … he'll be able to talk soon if he takes to it well."

Immediately, the man who brought him there with red hair bent down to be eye-level with him, his voice grumbling and low, no longer registering as just growls, "Hey, nod if you can understand me."

For a split second, he didn't know what to do, but then he slowly tilted his head up and then back down.

"A fast responder," the man said, his voice low and thoughtful.

The shorter man began talking again, "Well of course. He's probably a special one; heavily modified."

Modified?

He could only stare at them as they continued talking, their words registering faster than he could keep up.

"Yeah, he looks abnormal…" the red-haired man muttered, eye lingering on him for a little longer than he expected him to because of the passive tone of his voice.

"So, what'd you put on him, again?" the one with orange hair said, leaning closer to him again to get a good look; he was too numbed to pull away.

The short man with the dark eyes asked for the collar, giving it to the orange-haired man. "Adaption collar. Used to be commonplace in the industry until they found a direct link to his neural pathways. We can teach them anything we want with these." As though knowing the orange-haired man was going to ask more questions, the short man went on to explain. "The collars can only hold so much, so specially made units need their information uploaded. Collars can only give them basic descriptions of things and the ability to speak."

"So I'm guessing that with the collar method they'd have to teach the units after using them to get them where they need to be?" the orange-haired man asked, though it didn't sound much like a question.

The red-haired man spoke up then, "Yeah, or sometimes they'd use multiple collars or clasps. As long as its attached to their spinal cord they can teach them whatever they want."

"Had a few get paralyzed, though," the short man snorted, "and some ended up brain-dead from overuse of the spinal cord method." His attention turned to the red-haired man. "Cross, see anything of note?"

He looked to the red-haired man then. Cross was… his name?

"Yeah, they apparently tried uploading something in him, but…" Cross grimaced, but then carefully walked over and pointed to a spot on his head, just behind his ears, "as we can see, it was unsuccessful."

"Is that why he's missing an arm?" the orange-haired man asked.

"Who even knows," Cross grumbled, "those assholes are fuckin' crazy."

A single thought persevered through their conversational shift, and he finally managed to find his voice to bring it out. "N..ame?"

One pair of eyes and two individual ones looked to him, and he could only repeat his question as he lightly tilted his head. "Names? You are…" why did his voice sound so horrible in comparison?

They were stunned, it seemed, until the orange-haired man jumped forward with a surprising amount of excitement. "Oh! I'm Lavi!" he held out his hand, but realizing that the person in front of him didn't know what to do with it, Lavi went ahead and took his single hand in his, giving it an awkward shake. "The old man over there is the Bookman; he knows all sorts of things! And," he pointed to Cross, Allen followed his hand, "that's Cross." Lavi then turned his only eye back to him, and he returned the look as Lavi spoke again. "How about you? Got a name or registry number?"

His mind, still buzzing with information that was trying to sort itself out, didn't think of anything like that for himself, so he turned his gaze down with a quiet, "No…"

There was a small pause before Lavi smiled, obviously trying to cheer him up. "Well, I could give you one! I'm good at coming up with names!"

The idea had him sitting up slightly, not sure why the concept of having a name appealed to him, but he felt excited, nonetheless. He searched for words, trying to put together his internal dictionary, but then Cross stepped in, looking rather… cross.

"Don't bother with it right now. Wait a bit until we know what to do with him."

Lavi looked up at the tall man, a look of confusion on his face before he seemed to realize Cross's position. Lavi pulled back his smile, containing it to one simply for show as he stepped back, putting his hands on his hips as he looked to him. "Oops, sorry. You'll get a name one day, but not today, it seems."

He stared at Lavi, wondering why he wasn't ready for one yet, but he quickly gave up on the question. His head was starting to hurt, and as he brought up his hand to hold it, the short man, Bookman stood up.

"Collars tend to wear out their units… especially if they respond more strongly to its input." He turned to Cross, "You. Get him clean and he'll sleep in the room upstairs."

Cross straightened up, curling his lip as he recoiled. "What? Why do I have to?"

Bookman narrowed his eyes at him. "You're the one who picked him up! You're responsible for him."

"Also, if I can add," Lavi hummed with an all-knowing smirk, "he has some injuries that need tending to. You can't expect him to know first-aid, can you?"

The way that Cross's eye twitched nearly made the smaller redhead burst into snickers, barely able to stifle it as he was swatted by the Bookman. After a moment of being stared at by the three in the room, Cross seemed to admit defeat, growling lowly as he moved and grabbed him, pulling him from his chair before dragging him towards the stairs.

He could barely keep his feet underneath him, only just managing to keep it together until they reached the room that, after he got a good look at it, he registered it as the 'bathroom'. Once they were inside, Cross slammed the door behind them, rattling the house and his nerves that caused him to shudder. He glanced up to Cross anxiously as the man began to work the faucets, water spilling out as the man hissed curses in his fight to control the temperature.

Once it was deemed fine by the man, Cross pulled him over before all but yanking what he identified to be a coat off of him before also retrieving clothes, clothes that he had assumed to have just been part of his body before then.

Free of those, Cross wasted no time before tossing him into the water without any warning. Cross grabbed the detachable showerhead from the wall, the water came out of that instead of the main faucet, and the man was quick to douse him in the water that could barely be called warm. He squeaked and shielded against it, knowing it wouldn't hurt him but it still felt weird and offensive, his skin having no experience with such a thing, especially when aimed at his face. He recoiled, but Cross had him cornered and could get to him easily.

As Cross dropped the direction of the water from his face, he finally willed an eye to open. He could see the mud clearing from his startlingly white skin, revealing the small red lines of what he could guess were injuries from the glimmer, which his mind pieced together being broken shards of glass. Along with the scratches were several purple and blue splotches that stained his skin.

After seeing the splotches, his mind informed him they were bruises, and then just as quickly let him know how they were formed, but it confused him as he couldn't fathom how he could've experienced such an injury. Just as he thought about it more, he whined from the pain that flared up in his head and along his spine.

Cross's one eye glanced up to him when he made the sound, and then he sighed, standing up straight to tie his hair back in a dramatic and amazing crimson ponytail. The sight brought up questions about himself, and he reached up to his own head, finding nothing soft, but rather just… skin. Did he not have any hair? He pursed his lips at the thought, still searching until Cross snorted.

"You're still brand new, you'll grow some later… maybe," Cross told him, making him turn to his side so Cross could get the mud off his back. The water stung as it ran down the scratches.

His eyes flickered up to Cross, his words quiet. "I will..?"

"If you were built for it, yes," Cross said easily, reaching to grab some soap which he roughly administered to the cuts along his back, making him yelp.

Fighting against the stinging pain in his back, he tried to ignore it. "What was I built for?"

Cross clicked his tongue. "Who knows. For right now, you're essentially a newborn baby… 'bout as dependent as one, at least."

Speaking was only tiring him out, and he had to fight against the way his body was drained after every sentence Cross said. His brain was working hard to process his words, words that were brand new, and coming up with what responses were appropriate for them was even harder.

He was quick out of the bath, Cross quickly administering bandages to his cuts, and he couldn't help but stare at his bandaged fingers from where he sat on the side of the bathtub. Cross went to get him clothes, and when he returned he had him stand up and put them on, Cross only offering help when he stumbled once too often, his balance worsening with the throbbing in his head.

Just as Cross was leading him out of the bathroom, he got a glance of himself in the mirror, white as a sheet and with a bright red mark over the left side of his face, a sight so bold that he had no choice but to stare. The way the left sleeve of his shirt simply fell, empty, while the other one was full then captured his attention, and then how his head was certainly clear of any hair, then back to how vividly red his scar was in contrast to the rest of him.

"Don't zone out already, brat," Cross said lowly, startling him.

Turning to face Cross, he found himself hesitating to follow, but he did, feeling the clothes that now covered his body with every movement. They were too baggy, the ends of his pants scuffing the floor, and as he went down the hallway he spotted Lavi peering around the corner.

"Hey! You're not covered in mud!" he said, as though it was something special, and he could only look at him as the young man scampered over. "My clothes are a little big on you… but that's fine! At least they're not too small, right?"

He stared at Lavi blankly. "I guess?"

Despite the lackluster answer, Lavi only grinned, "Yeah, you'll see. Try putting on Bookman's pants and you'll prefer the idea of wearing Cross's," he said, only to recoil from Cross's glare from the stairs.

"Don't touch my clothes. You, bald-boy. Upstairs." Cross continued on, not even waiting for him to follow.

Lucky for Cross, his voice was scary and it made him hurry to follow.

Squeezing by Lavi, he scuttled up the stairs, not being followed which both relieved him but also made him nervous. He followed the large shoulders of Cross into a small room that left him feeling dizzy by the way his mind hurried to inform him of what everything was. Carpet. Mattress. Bedframe. Headboard. Desk. Lamp. Chair. Closet. Light. Shadows. Pillow. Blanket. Bedroom. Privacy.

The information flooded his senses, and he found himself squeezing his eyes shut and holding his forehead as it throbbed, a tingling racing from the back of his neck and down his spine. He didn't notice Cross approaching, but the arm around him he did notice. The way the man smoothly picked him up startled him, but Cross only lifted him to the bed, setting him down on it with the comforter and sheets already pulled back.

Cross's hand covered his forehead and pushed down so his head reached the pillow, and then the blanket carelessly tossed over him, as though to convince him that Cross didn't care in the least, despite the information in his head trying to convince him otherwise.

Cross's eye lingered on his face, but then he got up to leave.

His words left his lips before he could stop them, sitting up as he called out, "W-Wait, Cross…" His own voice startled him, unused to it or even understanding these words he spoke.

With a huff, Cross's shoulders somewhat slumped before he turned to face him, looking impatient.

The look and posture made him shrink back in the softness of the bed, then, his mind racking for something to ask. "You… really won't give me a name?" His mind asked him why he cared so much.

It took a moment for Cross to answer, his eye becoming cloudy and his eyebrow lowering, mouth furthering his frown. "No, I won't."

"Why?"

"Pick one yourself," Cross said as he marched out the door, having to pass by Lavi as he walked through the narrow doorway.

Lavi quickly took Cross's place and pulled up a chair by the bed to occupy, his eye nearly overflowing with curiosity. "So, you must be exhausted, huh?"

His mind processed what exhaustion meant, and he nodded. "Yeah…"

The redhead gave a short laugh. "Ah, don't worry about it. Tomorrow will be easier. I asked gramps – that's the Bookman – how it works, and basically as you sleep your mind won't be processing what you're faced with, so your brain will automatically file things a lot faster. By tomorrow it should be complete or at least nearly complete in sorting things out, so you'll be able to go around without getting overwhelmed."

He didn't know what to say, but then his mind came up with it for him. "Thank you…"

"Yeah! No problem, kid," Lavi chuckled, but then he looked at him for another moment, as though thinking, before he simply sighed and got up. "Okay, I'll let you sleep. Do you want something before you do? Like water, milk, a nightlight, a story, a lullaby, more pillows, less pillows, more blankets, less blankets, a quilt, a shawl, a snack, a dollar, alcohol, pain medicine, a massage…" he kept suggesting things, rattling on suggestion after suggestion that made his head _spin_.

His eyes were large, staring in shock and fear as his brain tried to process every word he said, getting more and more intricate until he was drained to the point that he blacked out.

Of course, he didn't know he did until he opened his eyes and the room was filled with sunlight, the sound of birds outside passing by his ears. As he slowly sat up, he realized that his mind wasn't trying to piece together everything he was seeing, the throb that filled it the night before a distant memory. But, the tingling in his neck was still there, acting like an annoying itch. With a sigh, he climbed out of bed, preparing himself for the world he was about to face, the distant sounds of people talking downstairs already noticeable before he even reached the stairs.

Taking a deep breath, he began descending them.

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 **AN:** **Since I'm constantly adjusting chapters from the new content I write and figure out, I may edit any chapters I post. Also, tell me what you think! It's been a long time since I've posted something like this, so I'm anxious to hear your thoughts! Thank you, again, for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I spent the whole week stressing about this because since I wrote it last year, the style's a little different than what I've been writing, but then I completely forgot about it the day I decided to post it. ´_ゝ** **`)**

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A smell wafted through the air that only added to the sudden weakness and discomfort he felt in his stomach, something that he'd never felt before and yet his mind vaguely understood as hunger. The bottoms of his bandaged feet stung as he left the room and carefully traversed down the stairs, finding the hardest part being fighting his body telling him he was going to fall, and he was relieved when he reached the bottom of the staircase. Though his feet still stung, they didn't hurt as bad on the consistently flat floor.

Following after the mouth-watering smell of a food he couldn't identify, the sounds of people talking, and the sounds of movement, his eye caught something on the wall. When he turned his head, he was relieved when the drain of knowledge didn't hit him when he saw a picture, its contents instead being immediately recognizable despite being completely foreign to him. The picture was of a green and grassy plot of land, a small boy hugging a big shaggy black dog, its ears folded halfway. Its black eyes were almost unnoticeable in the black fur, but the shines of which were there to tell him where they were.

Something clicked in his mind, as though a switch connecting pieces and causing a soft tingle to be felt in the back of his neck.

His mind flickered with the image of a dog with long, floppy brown ears. It was white with brown splotches, low to the ground and fat, and with a long, pointed tail that stood straight up like a radio antenna. It was standing somewhere cluttered and green, and then a man's voice called out...

The memory was pushed back into the depths of his mind when he heard Cross's voice from the kitchen instead.

"If you're already up then keep walking to the kitchen," Cross said at the end of the hall. When he turned his head, he caught sight of the man's expression, cloudier than it was last night. He didn't know why, but he felt it was weird for Cross to be up so early.

"I… think I have a name…" he said, speaking slowly as his mind tried to investigate the thought, piecing things together one at a time.

Cross pursed his lips doubtfully. "Oh?"

"Yeah…" he turned his gaze back to the picture of the dog, the memory quickly fading. "it's Allen."

"Allen?" Cross's voice sounded more confused than Allen deemed normal, and his muscles tensed like he was bracing himself. "Where'd you even hear _that_?"

Allen shrugged. "I don't know… I just remembered it when I saw the dog in this…" he pointed to the picture frame.

Before Cross could respond, Lavi practically swung around the larger man, putting on a smile that even Allen could tell was slightly condescending. "Actually, that dog's name was Baron, not Allen," he said, almost pitifully like he was talking to a child, "I mean, I don't mind the name, but it wasn't his-"

"I know it's not this dog's name…" Allen interrupted him, walking past Cross though he kept his eyes low.

In the kitchen, Bookman was already at the table drinking something, a tall and skinny can of something next to his mug. Bookman's dark eyes raised to meet Allen's, barely placing his mug back on the table before he returned his gaze to the device on the table in front of him. "Did you sleep alright?"

Allen peered at him curiously, but then he nodded. "Yes… Lavi helped me get to sleep."

Lavi skittered past Allen, only to be glared at by the Bookman. " _I heard_. And it was a stupid idea, you brat," he looked at Lavi with a scowl, but Lavi only grinned sheepishly.

"I just thought it'd get him to sleep, and it did!"

"You put him into a coma!" Bookman shouted, but then he cleared his throat and forced himself to relax. It almost seemed real except for the twitch just beneath his eye. "The first few days are the riskiest for a unit. Overloading their mind can lead to permanent damage that can impact how they react to and process future situations. He could unlearn everything and be rendered a mute vegetable with too much stimuli right now."

"Bookman, I'm sure he's fine," Cross said as he walked in, a lit cigarette in his mouth that left Allen's nose wrinkling. "He woke up just fine and he even picked out a name for himself out of nowhere." He nonetheless glared at Lavi, "But it was still stupid to knock someone unconscious and call it sleeping."

Lavi practically jumped out of his skin, "You do it to yourself all the time!"

"It's different!" Cross snapped back.

"Drinking until you pass out is _not_ sleeping!"

"Quiet down! It's too early for this…" Bookman snapped hypocritically. "Cross, get the kid some food." He ignored Cross's attempt to argue with him, instead turning his attention back to Allen as he gestured for him to sit down. Once Allen was situated to the side of Bookman, he continued talking, beginning to read whatever he had again. "So, what name did you pick?"

"Allen…" he answered.

There was a pause. "Last name?" Bookman glanced up to him, his eyes having a cloud in them that reminded Allen of Cross's.

The question provoked his mind to ask what Bookman meant by 'last', only to realize it himself a moment later. He had an answer that came to his lips faster than it did to his understanding. "Walker… I'm Allen Walker."

"Middle name?"

Nothing came to mind, so Allen shook his head.

"I see…" Bookman then fell quiet, his full attention on the device as though the cloud in his eyes was nonexistent.

In that moment, a simple plate of food was slid in front of Allen, leaving him staring down at it before he realized he could eat it. He could identify eggs and a piece of bread that was slightly modified, but that was as far as his thoughts went. He put a small piece of it in his mouth, but then devoured the rest like he was a starved dog, which wasn't too far off the mark if he had to guess. As he neared the last few bites of his breakfast, he slowed down, eyes taking in his surroundings a little more.

There were brown boxes packed along the walls, his mind failing him to remember if they were there the night before or not. He stared at them to decipher what was in them, the others ignoring his lack of attention and merely talking around him.

"We'll finish packing after breakfast," Bookman said as things settled down, Cross and Lavi also finishing up their meals.

Lavi's voice was distant, but he wasn't distracted like Allen was. "And what will we do after that?"

"Travel west," Bookman answered, looking to Cross. "You have a place there, don't you?"

"Yeah," Cross muttered, removing the cigarette from his mouth and only poking at what was left of his food. "More discreet than this. Harder to find, easier to manage."

Lavi sighed, leaning back in his seat. "Gramps, you need to find a permanent place for these books. It's tiring to keep moving them."

"If such a place existed we'd already be hiding them there," the look Bookman gave Lavi made even Allen feel stupid, "we cannot risk the Order or the Clan finding all of our information."

The words came up with nothing in Allen's mind, drawing his attention back to the people instead of the house. The words 'order' and 'clan' had definitions, sure, but he couldn't place what meaning the others were placing onto them. However, he grew interested in the idea of books; if he could read, then wouldn't he be able to learn and understand more? He hoped so.

Breakfast ended quickly, and Allen helped Lavi gather dishes, ready to learn how to clean them until Lavi pulled him away from the sink, leaving them there and instead directing him to pick up the heavy boxes and follow him. It was difficult and awkward since Allen only had one arm, but he could hold at least one box under it, and in the end, he preferred helping than just watching others work hard without him.

The front door was left open from when Cross left before them, also busying himself with loading the last of the boxes into a van parked at the side of the house, all of its doors open to allow them to pile in the last of the boxes atop the already overflowing amount already inside.

It took multiple trips but they loaded every box they had, and with talk of leaving, Lavi opened the driver side door and began to climb in with Bookman on the opposite side. Cross, meanwhile, was going to his car, with Allen following after him until an empty stillness and silence filled the air. It froze everything in place, and all four of them felt it. They all froze in their steps and motions, instead searching around them to see what was causing it.

They stood, staring around the house, but then there was a subtle buildup in sound, a discreet tinge at the ends of Allen's range of hearing, but then it dropped into nothing, but only for a moment.

There was a beat, the way it pounded into Allen's body reminding him of an impossibly loud heartbeat, only amplified as a second pound followed it, but with the second also came the sound of the shattering of glass and the splintering of wood. Logs and stone cracked, and Allen felt the pulse rattle through his muscles and bones. Pieces of debris sailed through the air, crashing and rolling in the dirt only to get thrown again when another pulse came through. He braced his legs as the sound attempted to knock him down, and his eyes caught the others doing the same, unsteady for only a moment before they scrambled when it fell quiet again.

"Get in! Get in!" Lavi screamed, jumping into the driver's seat of the van and starting it up just as another buildup seemed to suck all the air from their surroundings.

Allen was about to follow Lavi's voice to the van, but Cross grabbed his hand and yanked him around towards the house, but then the pulse hit. Cross's black car tumbled past like a tumbleweed, its shiny metal exterior now showing every crumple from the blast. The pulse numbed his senses, but Allen could still hear Cross cursing loudly as he pulled him back around to the van, the man throwing the boy in the open door and climbing in after him.

The van moved before the door shut, sending Allen scrambling to find a spot to sit on the boxes, his one hand his only brace to prevent himself from falling over as the van barreled over the unsteady ground.

As though noticing this as the van climbed over debris before dropping down a hill towards the forest, Cross reached around and held Allen against him, keeping him stable as they crashed through the woods. Another pulse, and Allen could see tops of trees come collapsing down from above, hitting the metal of the van and jostling the men with every thump.

"Where do we go?! Where do we go?!" Lavi demanded as he aggressively turned the wheel to avoid the raining branches.

"Keep to the right! The hill will block the soundwaves!" Cross yelled, his free hand that was not holding onto Allen holding onto Lavi's seat.

Bookman looked all too calm for the situation, but Allen could see his bone-white knuckles holding onto the center console. "We only have to worry if the blasts get faster or if we hear something else, so don't worry about them; just drive!"

"On it!" Lavi called out, twisting the wheel harshly to get the van around and back near the hill, the side of which getting steeper so that Lavi could hug it all the more tightly.

The blasts continued in beats. A beat of buildup, a beat of silence, a pulse, then the blast, the crash of debris, then the beat of buildup again. Allen's breath came shallower as the blasts continued, rattling his entire body to its core, and each beat a shock that seemed to scream in his head in ways he didn't know could exist.

Whenever he blinked, it was like the world shifted when he reopened his eyes, a glimpse into something else before he saw the interior of the van again. Every time he closed his eyes, the images persisted longer, a new feeling spreading through him like ink in water, spreading and tinting everything in clouds around him.

Beat.

A red light flashing.

Beat.

A voice.

Beat.

The sound of something cracking, and then pain that crackled through him like lightning.

His head felt flooded all of the sudden, flashes of images that he couldn't recall yet he saw with such vividness that it terrified him. Dimly lit rooms, running with his bare feet on the cold ground, and the feeling of something wet running down his skin. A flash of golden eyes finally broke his grip on reality, and he reached his hand up to anchor itself in his temple with his nails. He breathed harshly through clenched teeth with his eyes screwed shut against the sounds that played in his head. Sounds of cracking, words being said through clenched teeth, a man's guttural voice attempting to be soothing, and a songful laugh as something played above it.

Faintly, he could feel a hand gripping his body tighter, words muffled by the beats and crashes outside the van and the blood throbbing inside his chest. Feeling a surge of panic, Allen could feel his mouth opening in his attempt to breathe, the sounds drowning out to a series of a deafening thunder that was being suffocated by his mind's clouds.

Outside the storm, he felt something press against his back, warmth enveloping him and revealing that he was shaking. Tear-filled eyes snapped open only to see the fabric of Cross's shirt, the man's grip almost squeezing the life out of him, and yet it was the most comfortable he'd been so far.

Choking back any more of his panic as the beats and crashes continued, Allen anchored his hand into Cross's shirt, holding it there as the van continued to rock and move. He could feel every breath shake as he tried to calm it, the voices of the others remaining muddled. Was this what Bookman warned of? Too much shock and he couldn't understand them anymore? He choked back a whimper of fear, not wanting to unlearn anything, but it felt so out of his control.

Soon, there was a collective sigh through the small confines of the van, pulling Allen out of his safety net of Cross's collar to attempt to peek through the cracked windshield. Just as Allen shifted away from Cross, though, the man yanked himself away, leaning forward between the seats and leaving Allen to scramble to find his balance on the boxes again. It was then when he noticed that the beats had stopped.

"What was that about?!" Cross shouted, Allen jumping from his voice before he relaxed again, relief spreading through him that he hadn't forgotten how to understand them.

Bookman peeled his fingers from the console, quickly busying himself with fiddling with his clothes instead. "Guessing they found us… or they thought something else was out here…"

"Like what…" Lavi grumbled, his tone almost suggesting he didn't want to know.

Cross snorted, his one eye turning to Allen. "Well, a special unit was lost on the side of the road. Either they were aiming to destroy anyone who could've gotten ahold of him, or they were trying to destroy _him_."

Allen blinked, immediately becoming frozen. "Wh-why would they…"

"If you're a special unit then you probably have some special abilities!" Lavi spoke up, slowing down as he came to a road, sitting up so he could peer around them.

"Turn right; the trees should shield us," Bookman instructed.

Lavi followed Bookman's words with no question, and as he turned the wheel, the ride in the van became several degrees smoother, Lavi sounding more comfortable as he kept talking. "If you have something they deem as dangerous, they'll want to make sure you're not in enemy hands. Hey, gramps, did you figure out where they were taking him?"

Bookman huffed. "The road they were going down could suggest he was being taken to Facility Two… they could do anything they wanted in there…"

"W-Wait…" Allen sat up, looking to Lavi and Bookman interchangeably, "what were those booms?"

"They were sound waves," Cross said gruffly, "created by a unit and amplified by large canons on an airship. You can't find it to save your life but the thing can hit you more accurately than a sniper in a field."

Allen swallowed the fear that was building up; what a terrifying weapon. "And… the facilities?"

"Made to create and test units or weapons," Bookman said like it was an old tale. "Things that get in almost never get out unless they're _let_ out. There are seven main compounds in the world, and there are two on this continent: Central and Facility Two. You came from Central, judging by the vehicle… though we don't know if you were transported from somewhere else."

"Transported…" Allen whispered, waiting for it to process completely.

Cross snorted aggressively, "They bring in humans from all over the world to push their agenda. Anyone you see, they're either part of the problem, the victims, or the outliers."

Allen stared at Cross, "So you're all outliers?"

"Bingo!" Lavi chimed, almost sounding cheerful again. "Never staying in one place and avoiding the Order like the _plague_. That house was just the remnants of an old household that left a long while back when things were actually Hell on Earth; we just camped there. Good thing we left when we did, though!" He slightly turned his head, and Allen guessed he was looking at him through the mirror since Lavi's eyepatch was on his right side. "They must really want your shipment if they're willing to destroy this whole section without even waiting twenty-four hours."

"They must have had the driver on strict orders," Cross muttered. "Probably had to radio in once they reached a checkpoint but crashed before they could. The checkpoint radioed in that they didn't show, so they blasted us to hell." Cross gave a snort, "Good thing they hit us from the other side of the house; we would have died if they didn't."

"What does the blast do to a human?" Allen murmured distractedly, the memories of the crash site now crystal clear.

Cross gave an antagonizing laugh. "You don't want to know. It'll give you nightmares."

"No more questions, Walker," Bookman spoke up, meeting Allen's eyes in the mirror again, "let your mind rest for a few hours."

At first Allen wanted to argue, to get more information out of them, but he knew it was because of the risk involved. They'd already been put through a lot, and with the possible breakdown he had, he couldn't push it even if he wanted to. There was the Clan that he still wanted to ask about, but he would have to save his questions for later, it seemed.

Relaxing back against the boxes, Allen rested his eyes, still feeling his heart racing in his chest that he willed to slow down. There was an odd tingle in his spine and a throbbing in his body, but he couldn't place their source, choosing to ignore it as a side-effect of panic. Instead, he looked to the memories of the crash. With the information he now knew and understood, the memories took on a whole new form.

The truck that had careened off the road was reduced to a crushed tin can, the glass that covered the ground belonging to the glass in the cab and multiple glass containers that were launched out of the back. He was probably kept in a container, waiting in… did Bookman call it 'stasis'?... until he was released by the glass shattering.

It had been raining, the mud having been built up over hours of constant rainfall, and then the small shack that was also probably left behind from people long-forgotten. He could recall faintly seeing tracks from the truck's tires that carved the slope of the hill leading down from the road, the way Cross ran down it towards the truck like he was searching, the way Cross looked at him when he grabbed him by the shoulders.

What was that look?

He peeked open an eye to look at the man in question, the man focused on the road in front of them instead of the boy staring at him. The face Cross had… was that look was a look of disbelief? Maybe he didn't expect a survivor, much less a funny-looking specimen like him.

Allen looked down to his left side, the absence of a limb that wasn't explained, that he didn't know if it even could be explained. He furrowed his brows at the thought, biting his lower lip, but then he returned his attention to Cross, thinking more about the first time he saw him. "Cross…"

The man turned and looked at him, that cloudy look still on his face; he looked like he was about to snap. "What is it?"

"Do I look funny?" Allen asked quietly, unsure, but the stunned look on Cross's face almost made him forget all his worries and laugh.

Lavi sputtered instead, reeling slightly as he gave a cough. "What?!"

Cross finally seemed to snap out of whatever he was caught in, and he fastened Allen with an exasperated glower. "You look fucking ridiculous."

Hearing Cross's words, Allen's eyes flew wide open, lurching forward. "What?! Even for a unit?!"

"Especially for a unit!" Lavi cackled, "They tend to look like normal people for the most part!"

Just as Allen was about to shrink back in self-consciousness, he saw Lavi move before feeling something soft smack him in the face. Jumping, Allen scrambled with his hand to gather it up before he looked at what was thrown at him, eyes widening as they processed the piece of fabric between his fingers. It was a sort of hat, blue with diamonds across the trim.

"It's a beanie! Put it on, it'll hide your bald head!" Lavi said, unable to hide his laughter.

Allen hesitated, but then he begrudgingly pulled the beanie over his head, already becoming more comfortable until Cross's hands yanked the beanie down over his nose. Allen yelped as he was blinded and scrambled to pull it back up to above his brow, finding it difficult as Cross was holding it there. As he regained his sight when Cross let go, he sent the man a scowl, though all he did was just go back to lounging against the stacks of boxes. Cross gave a huff as he patted his pockets, only to look disappointed when he stopped.

"I dropped my smokes…" he muttered, staring at nothing.

There was a pause. "I did, too," Bookman said quietly.

Lavi cringed. "This is going to be a long drive."


	3. Chapter 3

The drive was quiet. Most of the words being spoken were Lavi asking for directions and either Cross or Bookman answering him, but the tension in the air was suffocating. The blasts were behind them, their destruction plain to see as they entered an area that had been devastated, with trees flattened or at least pushed into a substantial lean, plots of concrete showing where there used to be houses, eerily clean as though the homes were simply lifted off of their foundations. Branches, pine needles, rocks, and pieces of building littered the road, most small enough to simply drive over due to the way the blasts followed the road, not pushing the trees into it to create roadblocks.

After a few hours, they pulled off the road just before a waterless bridge, parking in the shadow of it to at least give them shelter if the blasts began firing again.

The moment the van was turned off, they all climbed out and groaned at the soreness of their legs, the long drive and the tension having left them stiff. Lavi took to stretching his limbs to rid them of the strain while Allen tried to figure out what he was doing. After a few moments, he started copying what Lavi did, the redhead almost immediately noticing his copycat off to the side. He smirked but continued on with a visible ray of amusement coming off of him, leaving Allen grateful that he didn't say anything, but with a face like that, Lavi didn't have to.

Lavi put up his arms, so Allen put up his arms. Lavi leaned to the right, so Allen leaned to the right. Lavi bent down, and so Allen bent down. But just as quickly as this game started, Lavi twisted around and threw something, smacking Allen in the head with a loud slap, sending him reeling back as he held his forehead. Lavi's mad cackles filled the air, and Allen could only guess he was pointing at him as he was recoiling from the sting.

Pulling his hand from his face, Allen looked to see what hit him, spotting a small scaly object laying in the damp dirt a few feet away, Allen's mind quickly registering it as… a fish? Seeing as the fish wasn't moving, Allen suddenly felt sick, and he jumped away from it with a shout of disgust while he scrubbed his face. Lavi only laughed even harder at seeing Allen so flustered. The disgust quickly passed was quickly replaced with anger, and Allen broke into a run after Lavi.

Lavi wisely sprinted away when he spotted Allen coming at him, screaming in mock-fear while he still had a stupidly wide grin on his face. Seeing the two teenagers sprint by, all Cross could do was groan.

"Don't hit people with dead fish, Lavi! That's how sickness spreads!" Cross shouted after them, immediately being ignored.

"If you die, you've only got yourselves to blame," Bookman said warningly, but Allen wanted vengeance.

"Lavi!" Allen yelled, beginning to catch up somehow and reaching out to catch the back of Lavi's shirt. It was too large even for Lavi's frame, hanging off of him and draping like a sheet, but just as Allen's outstretched fingers brushed the fabric, he heard a shout ring through the air.

"I swear to god, you two, get back here!"

It was Cross, and both of the boys froze at the tone of his voice. They half-turned to see if Cross was personally going to come out and drag them back himself, and seeing him standing in the shade with his arms crossed and glowering, both boys slumped their shoulders before exchanging a glance before they made their way back, tentative and slow. Cross returned to leaning against the van, but Bookman was sitting on the boxes inside, obviously not wanting to walk around in a space that was, in retrospect, filthy with debris and what the dying river had carried down. Lavi huffed, pouting, and Allen could only guess it was moments before he would act up again, but then Bookman called out to him.

"Allen, could you come here?"

Allen slowly made his way over, standing in front of Bookman as he wondered what he wanted; Bookman's tone wasn't at all scolding, so he didn't think he was in trouble. Bookman's gaze was level and his face unfaltering, but Allen could see those clouds of unsureness in his eyes. Was it because Allen was a unit? Were they afraid of what he'd bring to them? His mind stressed, though he tried to keep it off his face.

"Can you take off your shirt for a moment?" Bookman asked, and Allen blinked before nodding.

The shirt was done up with buttons, and it took him a moment to undo the line of them. Once they were all undone, Cross whipped it from his shoulders in a flourish that left Allen jolting. The cold morning air was brisk, and Allen shivered before he looked back to Bookman, whose eyes were trained on Allen's left stump. Allen followed his gaze, noting the thick black lines that seemed to paint his skin. They were in thick rings, the stump itself completely black, almost like it was covering a wound. He saw Bookman lean to the side, so Allen turned to let him get a better view of his left, wondering what it was he saw.

"I see…" Bookman murmured, "you _are_ a special unit."

Allen frowned slightly. "Is that bad?"

"It would depend on your programming," Cross sighed, looking like he wished he had a cigarette right then. "Most units are made from pre-existing humans, only updated with uploaded intelligence and a few body enhancements. From your appearance and the confidentiality of your… arrival… you may have been a 'Bred-Unit', one grown in an artificial womb so they could modify you more. Your failed upload either meant that they were going to send you to a new laboratory to try again with a different method, or you were going to be destroyed. Your arm…" he gestured to Allen's left side, "it could've been where they were going to give you a weapon."

"A weapon?"

"Yeah, they like to attach all sorts of shit to units," Lavi wandered over, prodding the black lines on Allen's left shoulder. "All sorts of guns, blades… it's really gross and never clean when they do that."

"Your arm must have been removed or prevented from growing so they could give you something once your mind was uploaded," Bookman explained. "You don't have a weapon, but special units are never that fragile. They usually come with enhanced strength or other abilities that are invisible to the human eye."

Such talk made Allen swallow nervously, but then he turned his eyes back to where his left arm _should_ have been. "So… regardless of my 'weapon', if I were to be programmed accordingly, I would have been dangerous?"

"Your mind is still human regardless of their programming. You could still think and make decisions, but you'd just be biased from what they programmed into you," Bookman said suddenly, and Allen blinked at him. So… would he or wouldn't he?

Something whapped Allen's head and he yelped, ducking down slightly as he held the spot warily before looking up at Cross, the perpetrator, who was holding something. Allen recognized it as… the clothing he was wearing yesterday? Blinking at it, he noticed that Cross was holding it out to him, so he slowly took It. With only one hand holding it, it fell crooked and folded on itself, making it difficult for Allen to even begin to figure out where all its pieces were.

"Don't stare at it like a moron, put it on!" Cross snapped, startling Allen as he looked between the two anxiously.

"But… why?" Allen frowned at Cross, unable to see why he'd need to. It was tiny, and Allen only remembered it covering his chest and the highest part of his back, so it wasn't all that good for warmth or protection. It didn't even have sleeves!

Cross snorted like it was a stupid question. "Idiot, it's the only thing that'll fit you! You're skin and bones! That thing is reinforced to withstand most lackluster bullshit, plus we'll let you wear something over it so just put it on!"

Allen stared at Cross for a few moments to see if he was joking. When Cross's expression didn't shift, not even blinking as he stared, Allen recoiled and began attempting to work the shirt on. Luckily, after seeing him struggling, Lavi jumped in to help him since the lack of fabric made maneuvering more difficult than normal. Once it was on Cross tossed the button-up at him, and Allen finished putting that on before Cross lead him around to find him a better pair of pants than the loose ones he was wearing.

"When did you pack all of this?" Allen asked as Cross climbed into the back of the van.

"When you were sleeping. We did some of it last night and some this morning before you woke up," Cross answered without looking back, digging through something before tossing the pants that Allen had been wearing the day before at him. They were clean of any mud, so Allen figured they must have washed them.

Quickly changing into them, Cross grabbed the other pair of pants and shoved them somewhere among the boxes, climbing back out before he sighed. While it was slightly tedious and out of the way, they were comfier and fit Allen better, so he couldn't complain, and once he was done he followed Cross back around to the side of the van where Lavi was just walking in circles, busying himself.

"Okay, back in the van," Cross called out, looking to Lavi. "I'll drive so you ride with the kid."

"Oookay!" Lavi cheered playfully, earning another groan from Cross as he marched to the driver's seat. Bookman climbed between the driver and passenger seat, allowing the other two to hop in through the side before closing all the doors.

Sitting among the boxes again, Allen hurried to find a good spot before the van could move, managing to find one before Cross even started the car, too busy searching for a map.

"Hey, gramps, do you have a deck of cards up there?" Lavi asked Bookman, Allen leaning to peer around the seat. After a moment of digging, Bookman held back a small cardboard box, a large spade over the front of it. Lavi took it with a grin and a happy, "Thank you!" before turning to Allen.

"Okay, so I'm going to teach you to play poker, a'ight?" Lavi said, pulling the cards from the box and immediately shuffling them.

Allen watched owl-eyed as Lavi moved the cards around skillfully, making Allen jealous over the fact that he couldn't shuffle the way Lavi did with only one hand. Soon, though, the cards were distributed, the van beginning to move and rather bumpily returning to the road. The destroyed landscapes were on all sides of them, but Allen refused to look at them, instead putting all of his attention on his hand of cards.

With the rules and a few pointers from Lavi, they were already playing, rarely stopping and instead playing in silence, Lavi with a big happy smile on his face and Allen's that grew as the time went on.

At one point, Cross tried the radio but then quickly turned it off when nothing but static came out of the speakers, only adding further to the silence until the two adults began talking. Allen didn't bother listening, and neither did Lavi by the look of things, their cards moving around until finally Lavi dropped his hands to the box in front of him with an exasperated gawk.

"Are you kidding me?!" he said, mouth hanging open and eye staring at the cards laid out in between them.

"Well, what did you expect?! That he'd just pick up on poker after just hearing about it? He probably doesn't even know what it _is_ ," Bookman scolded him.

Against Bookman's scolding tone, Lavi whined, sitting up straight. "No, he _beat me_!"

"Don't let him win so easily! Make him work for it," Cross then said, glancing up at the rearview mirror as Lavi stared back.

"I didn't! I honestly tried to win!" Turning his gaze to Allen, Lavi squinted and leaned forward on his knee as he stared at him. "C'mon, kid, how'd you do it?"

Allen stared for a moment before he vaguely shrugged. "I dunno… it's just familiar, somehow?"

Cross gave him a look from the front seat that Allen didn't know how to return, simply looking at him as he pursed his lips. Cross's eyes only flitted over Allen once, but then he turned away and back to the road, Allen turning back to Lavi who just shrugged.

Holding up his hand of cards again, Allen asked, "Do you want to play again?" He tilted his head, an excited smile then taking over his face. It was odd because he couldn't remember ever playing poker, yet he played easily, his hand almost moving on its own.

Lavi made a face, a thoughtful yet pouting one, but then he smiled, sitting back. "Okay, let's see if you're a natural at something else… how about old maid?"

Allen couldn't help but get giddy, and he excitedly listened as Lavi explained the rules. It was awkward trying to juggle the cards in his hands, but he tried his best, finding out that he was _not_ a natural at old maid like he was with poker. They played for a while, going between a few different games, with poker with Allen's favorite because it was the one he was the best at. However, solitaire was easy for him to navigate with his single hand, not needing one hand to hold the set and another to pull or move cards with. Lavi was understanding, so once they had exhausted their attention on the games, he started showing Allen card tricks.

"And… is _this_ your card!" Lavi held it out proudly, and Allen gaped.

"Yeah… how'd you do that?" he was wide-eyed as he stared at Lavi, all but begging to be shown.

Instead, Lavi only gave a cruel laugh, replacing the card into the deck as he tried to show off some more spectacular shuffling, closing his single eye as he did so. "Nope! Magicians don't reveal their secre-WOAH!"

The cards went flying in every direction as the van hit a rather large bump, Lavi's hold in the cards springing lose and sending them scattering, Lavi and Allen left gaping in the wake of the storm of hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades.

"Goddammit, Lavi," Bookman grumbled, and Lavi chuckled nervously.

"I-I'll pick them up…" Lavi said sheepishly, looking to Allen pleadingly. "Can you help?"

Allen laughed, but he nodded. "Yeah, sure."

It was awkward to move around in a moving van, Allen having to be more careful since he didn't have as good as balance as Lavi did, and he had to lay on his side so he could gather up the cards that managed to hit the floor. To reach cards in any higher places, he could simply sit on his knees or simply brace himself with his legs, but only having one arm meant that he couldn't brace himself if the van bounced or rocked, something that became clear as he banged his head on the corner of a box.

Sitting up after his head hit the corner, he hissed slightly against it as he rubbed his head, hurriedly trying to gather up the cards he saw afterward. After collecting all of them, he was about to turn around until his eyes caught the sight of red stuffed beneath the front seat, and with a tilt of his head, he reached to fish it out. Pulling it out from where it was stashed, taking substantially longer than he thought it would because the fabric was… well… long, Allen held it up so he could see it, unable to figure out what it was supposed to be, so he looked to Lavi.

"Lavi, I found something…"

The redhead was jammed between the boxes and the side of the van, one hand gripping the edge while the other was searching, legs splayed in an effort to keep his balance, but Allen couldn't help but snicker at the position.

"O-One moment…" Lavi said, sounding strained, but after a moment he finally burst back from the abyss he was stuck in, his hair looking much more ruffled. He looked to Allen, his eye immediately lighting up as he chirped, "Oh! You found my scarf! Gimme!"

Allen handed it over, and watched as Lavi wrapped it around his neck, looking more content almost the exact moment he put it there. "Thank you, I've been looking for it!"

"You're welcome… and that's a scarf?" He knew the word, but possibly because he didn't see it in its intended purpose, he didn't recognize it.

"Yep! It's mine, though…" Lavi said, looking a little protective over it. "It's always so cold, and it's going to get colder so, yeesh… thank you, again."

Smiling at being thanked, Allen felt filled with a newfound energy, and gathering the cards he found, he gave them back to Lavi. When the number of cards came up to fifty-two they both sighed with relief, putting them away before they could have another disaster. Lavi handed the deck up to Bookman to put away, but as he perked up and stopped in his motions, Allen leaned around to see what he was looking at.

There was a building, small with a pointed roof that reached towards the sky so sharply it was like it was trying to pierce it. As they got closer, Allen's eyes moved to see as much as he could, spotting fences, simple and made of wood and leaning in one particular direction. The van pulled up beside it, coming to a stop in its shadow and hugging the building so tightly that Allen was sure that Bookman would have to climb out of another door.

Leaning forward so he could see through the windshield, Allen saw large and beautiful windows, painted all sorts of colors with pictures of people, symbols, and designs. They were dark, but he could see a few pieces of the glass were being lit up, so he assumed there was something inside letting light through, though from the appearance of the building, he doubted it was on purpose. Just as the van stopped, Lavi opened the door and hopped out, Allen excitedly following after him and into the building as Lavi ran inside.

The air was damp and humid, the smell of it hitting Allen and forcing him to wrinkled his nose. He could hear water dripping from somewhere, and he could see several spots where water had pooled up. Plants were growing everywhere, yet the main area in the middle was more wood and dirt than anything else. There were seats all arranged to face the same direction towards the largest window in the structure, the picture in the glass distorted as the window was shattered. Just beneath the window was a large stage-like area, a piano in one corner and a sort of podium for someone to speak at.

It was enchanting in its own way, but it was cold, and while Allen wanted to explore, he was also cautious to not stray.

"Don't touch anything," Cross muttered to Allen as he passed by him, and as the man began marching off, Allen sighed, pursing his lips before looking back to Lavi.

Lavi gave him an optimistic smile. "He just wants to make sure we don't accidentally make this thing crash down on us. The blasts might have weakened it, after all."

Allen raised an eyebrow. "So why are we here?"

"Resting until we find somewhere better," Bookman answered, walking past them and towards the stage-like area, but he sat down on one of the seats in the front row, sitting back against it.

Unhappy by the idea of stopping, Allen looked to the glass, finding that the day was passing by, and while it wasn't evening quite yet, it would be soon. Chances were that they wouldn't be leaving until the next day.

Allen jumped as Lavi put his hand on his shoulder, and as Allen looked to him, he saw Lavi smirking all too smugly. "Say, Allen, do you know what kind of building this is?"

Blinking at the sudden question, Allen looked around again, trying to see if he could figure it out. There were all sorts of pictures in the stained glass, their positions and poses familiar, and then there was the layout of the building, which as he looked at it, he swore he could taste the answer on the tip of his tongue, and yet he couldn't place it. Forcing himself to focus, he walked towards the stage, stepping up onto it as he looked around for clues. Lavi followed behind him, but he was quiet, obviously enjoying watching Allen work to answer him.

There were a few books in the podium, and Allen retrieved one, glancing at the cover that was slowly withering away, but in the black faux-leather, he could see a name printed in gold.

The Holy Bible.

Staring at the book, he tried to solve why it seemed so eerily familiar, but coming up with nothing, he looked back to the room as he replaced the book. In his search, Allen raised his eyes and saw a figure painted on the wall just above the front door, attached to a cross and crucified there.

' _Such an eerie image…_ ' Allen thought to himself, but just as he had, he thought he remembered something. Images flitting through his mind of that image, someone speaking with a book in their hand…

"This is a… uh…" Allen hummed, drumming his fingers on the podium in thought, creating a steady rhythm that echoed through the building, "… it's…"

 _Stained glass glowed above his head, the image of a man crucified to a cross staring down at him, perfectly clear in the tunnel of his line of sight. Something warm was pooling to his left, throbs following his heartbeat that deafened his ears in pulses._

 _A series of cylinders filled the ends of his vision, each of them with feathers of steel limply hanging from them. They were done up in wraps, so tightly done that he couldn't see the shapes within. They were singing, songs of something he couldn't place, but still beautiful as they played together like an organ of woe. His own voice joined the harmony of voices as he felt a sharpness as the base of his skull, screaming at his highest notes as it felt like he was being filled with hot shards of glass._

 _It hurt. It hurt. It hurt._

 _A voice was screaming in his head. His own voice was wailing._

 _Images blurred past as his eyes were wild, only focusing on a man's face, golden eyes full of tears that looked at him with sadness, his words ground to nothing from the endless white noise in his head._

 _His heart throbbed like a drum, pumping his body full of fire ants, and then his face was on fire. Red painted his sight, blurring the world once again, and then it was clear._

 _The man on a cross, staring upwards at a parting sea of clouds that almost seemed to dawn sunlight on him, too. Tears were spilling from his eyes, but he couldn't remember why._

"Allen?!"

Someone was holding him. He could feel the ground against his legs, substantially lower than he had been a moment before and curled up into a ball. His throat hurt painfully, and as his head whipped around to face who was holding him, his eyes locked onto a singular green one, and memories flooded back to him before he was left staring widely Lavi's collarbone, eventually slumping against him to catch his breath.

"Wh-What's wrong? Hey, c'mon…" Lavi was holding him securely to his chest. "Gramps?"

Pulling his face from Lavi's collar, he looked up to Bookman who was staring at him in shock, though it was also mingled with several other emotions that flitted by before Allen could register them. Allen didn't look away from the Bookman as he stepped closer and kneeled, placing his fingers along Allen's cheek to hold his face still.

 _A gentle song played, his head feeling like it was filled with cotton and stones. The man was smiling, blood covering him. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt._

 _The song got louder, still._

Allen choked on his breath, stumbling as it came faster and harder, leaving his body quaking as he clutched to Lavi even tighter, the voices around him muddling into confusing jumbles of sounds that seemed to get farther away.

His head got dizzy, the world beginning to move on its own, only to steady itself when a heavy weight landed on his shoulder. Snapping his head up, Allen's breath hitched at the back of his throat when he spotted Cross gripping his shoulder. Registering the scene in front of him, something clicked in his subconscious that he couldn't pinpoint, and seeing Cross stand in front of the stained glass for some reason… fit. Finding his breath, he stared for a while, his mind connecting unseen dots before his voice came out shakily.

"A church?" he muttered, feeling exhausted simply from the realization. "This is a church… right?"

Cross's eyebrow lowered, eye flickering up and Allen could only guess that he was looking at Lavi and Bookman, but then he brought his stare back, nodding. "Yeah. You figured that out?"

Allen nodded, suddenly numb. "And…" he squinted a little, "you are… um…" he reached up to Cross's throat, touching just below his Adam's apple, "a…"

"A priest?" Lavi suggested, and Allen nodded.

Feeling fingers press his cheek again, Allen looked back to the Bookman, looking at him in confusion until the man pulled his hand back, eyebrows furrowing. "There doesn't seem to be any substantial damage… what happened, just now?"

Thinking back, Allen couldn't even think of the words to describe it, slowly shaking his head as he moved his head to rest against Lavi's shoulder, resting his eyes as he tried to settle his heartbeat, feeling it flutter against his ribs. After a moment, he felt Cross's hands pry Allen from Lavi, and then pulled him up back to his feet.

Allen tried to quickly find his footing so he could stand on his own, steadier than he assumed he would be, though Lavi still helped him across the stage to sit him down on a bench. The redhead sighed as he turned to listen to the two older men talk, not making a move to sit down beside Allen. Allen tried to listen, too, but couldn't find any part of the conversation to latch onto. Giving up, Allen sighed and instead turned his gaze to the thing behind him, something that made his mind register as a piano, the black and white keys dirty but left in the open.

Three notes rung in the air, silencing the conversation as they looked to the piano, Allen merely pressing down those keys repeatedly to hear the results. Cross groaned, a hand coming up to press his fingers to his temple, only increasing the pressure as Allen's hand moved down the line of keys before returning up towards the higher notes. Lavi was watching, a subtle and relieved smile on his lips for Allen who seemed to be quickly recovering.

Cross turned back to Bookman, resuming their conversation and bringing Lavi's attention back, ignoring the notes that came in even beats and only ever increased or decreased in tone. Despite the filth and the obvious state of wear in the church, the piano played decently, filling the church with those notes until Cross finally growled and whirled around.

"Half-wit!"

Allen jumped, his back straightening as he turned back around to face the scowling man.

"Stop doing that! Do you want to alert everyone to where we are?!"

Seeing the way Allen slumped back in the bench, eyes wide, Lavi stepped halfway in front of him while holding his hands out defensively.

"Hey, Cross! I'm sure your yelling is drawing more attention than a piano…" he said, already knowing he was going to face the brunt of the man's anger, but it was better than watching Allen get yelled at for something so seemingly harmless.

Cross's jaw clenched, and Lavi already began inching his way back to flee to the back rooms. He broke into a sprint as soon as he spotted Cross's legs preparing to do the same, an explosion of movement and sound that startled Allen off the bench and onto the floor as they barreled by. Lavi ducked into the back room and the door's lock clicked audibly, Cross only standing outside and yelling at him instead of attempting to break it down. Allen gaped at the scene, only for Bookman to come over and sit on the bench instead, pulling out a set of needles from his sleeve and then yarn from a small pack and beginning to thread the threads of yarn together, drawing Allen to watch.

"They'll tire themselves out," Bookman said quietly, almost inaudible over the sounds of Cross shouting and Lavi's distressed noises.

Relieved at the information, Allen sighed, resting his head on the edge of the bench as he watched the fluid motions Bookman so easily made, the sounds already beginning to slow as the anger began to evaporate. The sun was finalizing its descent past the horizon, darkening the church and seeming to quell the last of the arguing between the two redheads, with Lavi creeping out of the room once Cross went to go get a lantern from the van. The soft light glowing from the lantern filled the stage of the church, simple blankets tossed across the floor as bedding, Allen having to share with Lavi.

"Sorry, we didn't know we'd ever have four people…" Lavi said to him, stretching his arms above his head. "We'll have to share, but I'm not a terrible sleeper."

"How can you be a terrible sleeper?" Allen asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

Lavi only blinked at him before he dropped his arms to his lap, shrugging. "Well, a terrible slipper is a person who doesn't hold still while sleeping. They move around, limbs are flailing everywhere, kicking, and hogging the bed."

Allen blinked, but then gave a quiet, "Oooh," before looking at his own lap, thinking before he returned his gaze to Lavi. "I don't know how I sleep."

"Guess we'll find out!" Lavi grinned, yanking Allen down with him against the blankets, the thud and the impact making them wince, the blanket doing nothing to soften the blow of hitting the floor underneath. Whining and groaning, the two let go of each other as they slowly sat up, holding their heads.

"Oh, sorry, sorry…"

"Owww…"

"Idiots…" Cross muttered as the two recovered, not paying them any heed.

They had a modest meal of dry cereal straight out of the boxes and dried fruit, but Allen couldn't complain since he didn't know any better. Soon, when it was time to retire, Lavi and him were laying on their sides, Allen facing away from the lantern and Lavi following suite to avoid the lantern shining in his face. From the way Lavi's breathing changed, Allen figured he must've fallen asleep quickly, making him grow mildly frustrated due to the fact that he hadn't managed that yet.

Allen kept his eyes closed, trying to convince his body to sleep and trying to figure out if he was just doing it wrong, but as Cross's low voice murmured above the sound of crickets and other bugs, Allen put his attention to him instead, and the unsure tone of his voice.

"What about going north, towards the ruins?"

"We'd have to get through the city. Can we manage?"

"The kid can walk just fine; as long as we keep to the side streets we won't be noticed."

"And then, when we get there, what can we do?"

"Stay out of sight; any akuma that's tailed us will get taken out by the Order once we get through the city, so we'll be free from then on."

Allen could hear Cross sighing, the slight rustle of fabric before Cross's voice returned, quieter and almost sounding unsure.

"What do we do with the kid? He'll be wanted by both sides if he's worth something…"

"That face is also very easy to identify."

"I know." Cross sighed again. "What do you think I should do?"

"Take him on as an apprentice," Bookman said, but then quickly snapped. "Don't look at me like that. You were a general, that was your job. I know you never took one up after Maria, but Allen needs someone to teach him how to control his strength so he doesn't hurt anyone."

"For what? So he can die in some bullshit way? So he can be a tool to fight akuma? I'm fucking done with the Order's bullshit. I don't want anything to do with him."

"I don't think you can leave him behind, Cross. As much you say you want to, the moment he looks at you you're weak to him. I know it's painful, but you have to teach him how to be an effective unit if you want him to live longer than a few days."

Cross gave a painful, shuddering breath, but after a moment's pause, he finally relented. "So… what? Make him an apprentice, train him even though he doesn't have Innocence, and hope for the best?"

"That's all you can do," Bookman said, and Cross sighed again. "That's what I did with Lavi, and it's worked out well enough. Allen's older, yes, but he's already attached to you. Make use of it."

The scoff or laugh that Cross gave was sad. "If that's a fucking joke about the imprinting gene they messed with then you're a goddamn asshole."

Bookman gave an offended huff, but still never raised his voice. "They never figured that out, you know that. And, you know that if you leave him for the Order, he's only going to end up dead like the other one. You have no choice but to train him unless you want more blood on your hands."

"You _are_ a goddamned asshole," Cross muttered, but then his voice softened. "Fine. He can't learn how to use a weapon like a normal unit but I'll see what else I can teach him."

"Good."

"Don't speak a word of the other one to him," Cross lowered his voice, "the last thing I need is him getting freaked out."

Bookman scoffed. "As though I'd tell him something like that."

"You'd better not," Cross's voice was nearly too quiet to hear, and they sat quietly before he sighed, and the conversation turned from there to discussing routes to get to the ruins; which roads to take and the nearest threats to them on the trails, the low tones of both of their voices working to help Allen's eyes become heavy, slipping into a weighted sleep, the low murmurs never once disturbing him, and neither did the thoughts they provoked.

The only thing he remembered dreaming about was the sound of rain.


	4. Chapter 4

"Allen!"

All sense of sleep was destroyed as something collapsed on top of him, startling him awake with a cracking shout. As Allen wriggled his way out from under what fell on him, he found Lavi's giggling face, the young man lying on top of him and pinning him to the floor. Whining as he was still tired, Allen tried to kick him off, managing to get out from under Lavi only to be trapped again when his arms wrapped around his middle, refusing to let him go.

"L-Laviii!" Allen cried, his voice sounding almost hoarse. "Lavi, get off!"

"Alright!"

Then Lavi rolled, taking Allen with him so that Lavi was laying on the ground with Allen on top of him, Allen's back against Lavi's chest and his arms still holding him in place. Allen tensed up, but then he thrashed, trying to get them to roll again so he could somehow weaken Lavi's hold, but the man was larger than him and he had two arms to hold him with, leading to them rocking from side to side as Lavi continued to laugh.

"Cross!" Allen then shouted, hoping the man would help him. He craned his head to find the redhead, only to spot him sitting against the wall with Bookman, both of them eating something and just watching, not looking invested at all.

"Handle it yourself," Cross said before putting another piece of fruit in his mouth.

Feeling his eye twitching, Allen began to thrash more violently, kicking his legs in the air as he shouted, "I would if I could, stupid Cross!"

With Lavi's arms holding down Allen's at the elbow, he was unable to reach up to grab Lavi's wrists, instead having to use his legs to try and offset their balance, throwing his weight any which way to make the older boy stumble, to try and brace himself, thus releasing Allen enough that he could move. However, Lavi held firm, merely giggling at Allen's growing frustration, and as Allen squirmed more, he thought of something, so as he continued to thrash, he dropped his hand to Lavi's side, harshly pinching his leg as Lavi loudly yelped.

"Ow ow ow! Okay! I give, I give!" Lavi yelled, still laughing as he released Allen, holding up his arms defensively as Allen immediately tumbled off, shooting him with an angry scowl.

"Why in the world did you do that?" Allen shouted, feeling entirely ruffled.

Lavi's lips were turned upwards in a large grin, rocking upwards so he was sitting cross-legged, still giggling. "You were sleeping so soundly and we had to wake you up! It worked, didn't it?"

With his mouth dropping somewhat, Allen then loudly whined. "You didn't have to hold me down!" Realizing exactly what Lavi said, he dropped his angry expression and instead blinked between the three others. "Wait, are we leaving soon?"

"Yes, so eat something," Cross said, rolling over a can that Allen curiously picked up. "They're canned peaches. Eat them."

"Here, I'll help you with that," Lavi said, reaching over to grab a tool off the ground before moving closer to Allen, reaching to take the can.

Cross's low voice made him freeze, "Don't. Let him figure it out."

Lavi's looked to Cross, frowning in confusion. "But… he won't be able to…"

"If you coddle him then he won't improve," Cross said lowly. "He needs to learn how to get around with only one arm. He can't cry about it forever."

Hesitantly nodding, Lavi handed the tool to Allen as the boy was trying to remember ever crying about his lack of an arm. Lavi smiled apologetically as he gave an awkward, forced laugh, "Ahah, sorry, Allen…"

Feeling a little nervous about being put to a 'test', Allen took the tool and blinked at the can, looking between the two to try and figure it out before he put it on his lap. It took multiple tries and attempts before he found that the edge of the can fit into a small gap in the opener, and he could recognize the part of the tool that he was supposed to turn to make it move.

Trying to turn it, though, resulted in nothing happening, and he knew he had to hold the can in place in order for it to work. He sat completely on the ground, then, placing the can between his knees and locking them there to prevent it from turning, using his hand to turn the crank on the tool and being relieved when it worked, and before he knew it the top came off, the juice inside immediately catching his attention.

"See?" Cross muttered, and as Allen looked up he could see that Cross was looking at Lavi. "He figured it out. Don't treat him like an infant; he looks almost as old as you."

Lavi huffed, obviously looking sour.

Feeling a little guilty, Allen then crossed his legs instead, taking the tool and setting it aside before taking the top out of the can, unsure how to eat it without getting his fingers wet. His attention was captured when Lavi offered him a plastic fork, holding it out towards him.

"Here, use this." Lavi said before he sent Cross a glare, his tone snappy, "Is this fine, Cross?"

Cross scoffed and ignored him as Allen shuffled uncomfortably, not liking the atmosphere, but instead he busied himself by eating. The peaches were sweet, especially with the juice they were soaked in, but the flavor felt odd on his tongue. When he was done with the chunks of peaches, he drank the juice, wrinkling his nose a little at the taste.

Afterwards, they quickly had to move, packing up their things before returning to the van parked out front. The world looked different in the morning light, and Allen could hear birds and bugs as they returned to the land since the blasts stopped. The grass glittered with something, and as Allen approached it he could see it was water, and unable to resist, he squatted down and reached out, running his fingertips across the tops of the blades of grass, the icy coolness pleasant to feel. He was then quickly pulled from the grass when Lavi called for him, though as Lavi got in the front and Cross climbed into the back, he blinked, confused, but then he followed obediently.

The van quickly got moving, and Allen tried to make himself as comfortable as he could. They had arranged some of the blankets on top the boxes for at least some padding against the rough ride. Cross was lounging across them, chewing irritably on his lip, and Allen found himself sitting in the corner away from him, sensing his bad mood and wanting to be as far away from it as he could be.

His mind drifted back to what he overheard the night before, about becoming Cross's apprentice, though he didn't know what exactly that entailed. As he thought about it, he unconsciously began clenching the fabric of his pants in his right hand, fidgeting his legs until Cross reached over and grabbed his hand, forcing it to still and nearly scaring Allen out of his own skin.

"If you can't sit still then at least do something useful!" Cross then quickly turned Allen to be facing him, Cross also turning himself before he rummaged through his pockets, pulling out another deck of cards before pulling out the queen of hearts. "Catch them."

"What?" Allen started, but then the card was flung at him, and he squeaked as he jolted, hand swiping to catch it between his fingers. He blinked and readied to ask what Cross was doing, but then the cards kept being tossed above his head, and afraid to see what would happen if he didn't, Allen continued trying to catch them.

He had a good amount in his fingers until Cross's eye narrowed, and then he carelessly tossed the next one to the rear of the van, making Allen panic and reach out to catch it, but in doing so all the cards he had caught previously slipped from his fingers, scattering along the top of the boxes all while managing to catch the latest one. The cards didn't scatter from atop the box, leaving Allen sighing a breath of relief, but he still turned to give Cross a scowl. When the man's expression didn't change and he simply kept throwing the cards, Allen barely got himself back into the rhythm of catching them, the way the cards were thrown beginning to change more erratically and regularly.

"Don't drop the ones you've already caught, idiot," Cross grumbled, relentless.

Allen was too busy keeping his focus that he didn't watch the road ahead of them, so when they hit a bump, the card Cross had thrown went higher than the others. Allen still managed to catch it, but not until after he bashed his knuckle against the roof of the van, being punctuated with a loud, pained yelp. Biting his lip against the sting, he saw another card, and with Cross's words in his head he reached out to swipe that one, not caring any longer for the pain in his hand until Cross's deck was empty. Allen was nearing being breathless as he looked to the number of cards he had managed to snag between his fingers.

"Don't bleed on my cards," Cross then said, reaching out to snatch them from him before placing them with the ones on the boxes. He then held out his hand. "Give me it." When Allen only stared at him, confused, he growled, "Give me your hand, idiot."

At the mention of it, Allen's eyes looked down and spotted the red slice along his knuckle, just above his already wrapped bandages, even just the minor flash of red being shocking against his pale skin. Not saying anything, Allen held his hand out to Cross, who quickly took it before rummaging in his pockets until he pulled out what first appeared to be a piece of paper. He only used his teeth to peel the cover off before placing the bandage itself on the small cut before he released Allen and tossed the wrapper somewhere behind him.

With the new bandage on his hand, Allen couldn't help but note how terrible his hand looked with the many wrapped injuries covering it. When he looked up, he caught Cross studying him, but then he only gave an amused snort.

"Not bad. Your coordination's there, just have to strengthen your fingers."

Allen blinked. "Why?"

"So you're not dropping my cards again!" Cross said loudly, pointing with his thumb to the mess atop the box. "Pack them up, now."

After a moment's pause, Allen sighed but scowled at the demand, but then he did what he was told, reaching over and using his fingers to try and gather each card into a pile. His knuckle still stung, but he ignored it in the face of Cross who was stoically watching him. Once he had them stacked, more or less, he held them out to Cross. Instead of taking the cards, Cross only tossed the empty box they came in in Allen's lap, bringing a tired sigh from Allen as he then had to juggle the deck of cards while also fixing the box.

"Don't use your legs," Cross said as Allen was going to try holding the box with them, earning a glare from Allen before he huffed and continued grappling.

It took several awkward moves of his fingers and some time to get the proper hold, but soon he had slid the majority of the deck back in its box, a few slipping free from his grasp and scattering across his lap as he released another, louder sigh. It forced him to drop the deck to his lap to gather the others up. As he did, though, Cross reached out and grabbed the box, dumping out the cards again on the boxes around him and giving him back the now empty deck. His expression was flat as Allen was now glaring at him a new intensity of rage that he didn't know he could feel, wanting to throttle the man who was causing him all this trouble.

"Stop staring, pick them up," Cross said, and Allen could see Lavi shift uncomfortably out of the corner of his eye.

With a new feeling of spite, Allen then aimed to pick up the cards faster, managing to do so before he finally got the cards to fit into the box, tapping it against one of the ones in the van to get them to fit. Once they were finally in the box, he made it a point to stare Cross in the eye as he used his fingers to tuck the lid, sealing it before handing it back.

"I picked up your cards," he said bitterly, the edge of his words sharp as Cross took them back.

"Good, you're not terrible," Cross said as he placed the deck back in his pocket. "You actually show some promise without bitching."

Perking up at the words and wondering if they were praise, Allen stared dumbfounded at Cross until the van slowed down, pulling Allen's eyes towards the windshield. Just outside was a distant grey city, the center seeming to climb up a hill until it was capped off with a large castle-like building, all of it covered in a smoldering, gritty fog. His mouth somewhat fell open as he sat forward to get a better look, the sight of strange vehicles floating within the clouds above the city snaring his attention.

They slowly approached before taking a road that ran parallel to the city, taking them in a wide arc around it that got narrower and narrower, taking them through a forest that suddenly engulfed them, the yellow strokes on the road almost glowing in comparison to the pale grey roads that came before.

The city came up fast, a dilapidated barrier separating it from the woods, but even as they pulled through a gap in it, they hugged the rock wall until the roads forced them away. Buildings with dark windows bordered both sides of the street, Allen ducking down to try and see their tops as they passed. Not a single person lingered in the streets, which got amazingly narrow as they continued through. They eventually approached a much wider main street, but then Lavi pulled off to a road that descended beneath a building, the sides open to show the nearby buildings and streets. Empty vehicles littered the space, dirty and looking as though they were simply waiting for someone to return to them.

They neared the end of the, now apparent, parking garage when Bookman hissed, "Turn it off."

Lavi did so with a flash of panic, the van dying and rolling forward for a few inches before Lavi braked and parked it in the middle of the road.

The van was full of only the sound of muffled breathing, all heads ducking but still trying to peer through the cracked glass. Now that they were still, Allen was able to search until he found groups of people moving through the streets, all moving almost as one as they weaved back and forth in an orderly fashion. They were dressed the same, but there were a few in striking black clothes walking around them, and as Allen squinted, he could see the red trim along their apparent uniforms.

Lavi's voice was barely audible, "What are they doing here…"

"Looks like they're moving equipment…" Cross murmured, "must've found something worthwhile in this corpse."

"Some of the dolls and machinery were ran with Innocence; they must have just found the urge to come reclaim it," Bookman said.

"Dolls?" Allen asked, glancing to Cross before turning his eyes back to the crowds.

Instead of Cross, though, Lavi answered it with vigor. "Since this city was closest to the facility, they didn't have to worry about being safe from the outside, but the Order didn't really offer any luxuries back them. So, when an Innocence was just being left in storage, they used it how they could and put the stuff in machinery and dolls. It made the toys dance and sing on their own, and they talked, too… like people, I think."

"Creepy little things, too," Cross muttered under his breath, disregarding the glance Allen sent his way.

Bookman picked it back up, "The civilians left the city when the facility was closed, but they left most of the equipment, including all the dolls. A lot of them were disassembled when the people left because they were afraid what they would do."

Not fully understanding the whole idea, Allen could only nod and go along with it, continuing to watch the movement outside until it seemed to make Cross too restless. The man slowly and quietly opened the van door before climbing out, his boots making small thrums through the space of concrete, Allen's being much lighter when he followed after him, the others coming right behind, just as quiet.

Cross held up a finger to his lips to tell Allen to be silent, to which he nodded and followed closely as they made their way back and through the gaps in the garage. The gap led to a narrow alley that they used to get by in the shadows of the people working, with Allen searching to try and find the faces of the uniformed people, being surprised to see them being fairly young.

They passed by without incident, none falling behind as they snuck through the back alleys, moving swiftly as they made their way around the building being emptied. Cross and Lavi pulled themselves up on the deep-seated windows to peer inside, and once they had their fill, they dropped back down and continued leading. On the other side of the building there was a small path that stretched across a gap where a street dug into the ground, creating a bridge that they all quickly lined up to cross, nobody in sight to see them.

As they walked, however, Allen felt the concrete shift beneath his feet just before it gave out beneath him. His eyes snapped up as Lavi tried to catch him, only to miss when his hand was outstretched to Allen's left side, having nothing to catch. Allen hit the ground with a pained grunt, but didn't pause as he rolled away to avoid the pieces of concrete and stone that began crashing in front of him. Once free of the debris, he only gawked at the rubble before he jerked his attention up to find the others, only having their attention before they noticed something and whirled away from him.

"Shit!" he heard Cross hiss as they scattered, and Allen followed where he was looking just in time to see a uniformed person standing at the end of the alley, a threatening aura leaving them and sending Allen to his feet.

Without a second thought, Allen turned and bolted, the sound of his shoes smacking against the concrete beneath them echoing too loudly for comfort. He found an intersection, and he twisted to make his way down the other alley, his mind reeling as it tried to come up with what to do from there. Behind him he could hear what sounded like metal hitting the concrete, and Allen only felt motivated to run faster. As he came around another corner, he dropped low to the ground, using his right hand to skim the concrete to keep his balance before bolting upright again, never stopping. He smiled as it seemed to work and the person behind them scrambled awkwardly to make the tight corner at that speed, giving him some room to breathe.

Despite how fast he was running, Allen didn't feel remotely out of breath, but he knew it was limited, and he had to hide or at least shake his pursuer off soon before he could even think of finding the others. As he looked around for an escape-route, however, he realized he had no idea where he was, the wall of panic building up but being forced back into the recesses of his mind in his effort to stay focused.

Just as he came to that resolution, however, someone else slid in front of him at the end of the narrow street he was on, and as their uniform came into view, he gasped and skid to a stop, spotting a street to his left that he bolted down instead, feeling one pursuer behind him and wondering if the other was still chasing him.

Bursting out of the alley, he saw a few scraggly birch trees around some sort of pathetic park, eyes flitting around the scene to find his next route, though just as he found a path to go, a blur passed by his right side, snapping his head up just in time before something whisked by his face. The wind it carried caught him and sent him backwards, tripping over his own feet and sending him tumbling to the ground.

As he pulled himself up, Allen saw the uniform, but also a girl's face as she looked down at him, her eyes hardened and strong, locking him in place. He could see from that point of view that her legs were strong, boots like armor climbing up her legs and looking intimidatingly heavy. Allen scrambled back, wishing to put distance between them, but just as he tried, the girl stepped out of the way, the other uniformed person lunging forward with a blade.

With only a moment to react, Allen twisted to roll onto his right shoulder, scuffing the ground as he fought to get back onto his feet. As the blade whipped by his face again, taking advantage of his stumble, he jumped back just in time, clenching his jaw as he faced down his next assailant. Long black hair, cold blue eyes, and Allen could already feel the chills running through him from the person's hateful glare.

Neither of the strangers spoke, both lunging at him interchangeably to work off each other's effects. While the one had their blade, the other had their heavy boots, a surprising weapon that with every precise kick, Allen could feel the wind coming with it, threatening to pick him up off the ground.

It was suicidal to even attempt to properly fight them; he just needed to escape, to make his way backwards. Allen's eyes flickered to the right, and from the way the long-haired person tensed their legs, Allen figured he made a good decision when he jumped to his left, ducking behind a tree as the swords-person jumped forward and attempted to stab him. The girl, on the other hand, whipped around effortlessly, forcing Allen to let his legs buckle and bend himself backwards to avoid her kick.

Allen knew instantly that the posture left himself open to attack, even as he rolled to the side to find his footing again. He was quickly beginning to run out of breath, dodging and moving out of both of their paths didn't allow him to think, and as he saw the blade and the boots begin to subtly glow and almost writhe, Allen felt his throat tighten up with fear, his own body crawling just from the sight of it.

The girl jumped into the air, her body twisting just before she slammed her boots into his chest.

It rattled every fiber of Allen's body, and he was flung to the ground without any restraint, his head immediately spinning as his lungs fought to refill themselves. When Allen managed to look up, his mind sharpened, barely dodging out of the way of the person's blade, twisting to his feet even as he was wheezing, his lungs screaming like they were on fire.

They both came at him, one after the other, and Allen's mind only offered monotone instructions that made him grip the fabric of his shirt and rip it off, not caring for the buttons as they littered the ground. He lunged forward to intercept the girl as she came at him again, yanking the shirt in her path and snagging the sharp heel of her boot. Allen twisted it in his grip, forcing her to adjust, but with the two of them so close, he saw the swords-person being left trying to find an opening, all while trying to not get in her way.

Finally, as the girl attempted to lash at Allen when the armor of her boots started tearing the fabric, he yanked as hard as he could, twisting and throwing her as far away from him as possible. She righted herself in time to land on her feet, but she landed awkwardly, stumbling a few steps before she started gauging her next move.

Without her in the way, though, the swords-person lunged with newfound energy, Allen back-stepping and preparing to dodge until a shot thundered through the air, the sword being pushed hard to the side, some impact that left the person gritting their teeth and snarling. In that moment, Allen flickered his gaze to the side he assumed it came from, unable to see anything even as another shot rang out, this time creating a small dust cloud on the ground between Allen and the two attackers as it hit the dirt.

Whoever was firing at them was an ally of his, Allen figured, and so he broke into a sprint across the park and towards the other alleys. The metal clanks from before returned, and Allen figured the girl was still pursuing him. As he ran through the alley, though, he realized that she could easily catch him now as he couldn't dodge to the left or right, but for some reason, she didn't leap at him.

As he sprinted into the next street, Allen nearly screamed as he saw something else swing at his face from in front of him, only bending back just in time for a large black shape to rush over his head. As he was still running, the motion caused him to lose his footing, sending Allen sliding across the ground until he tumbled, rolling onto his side before he looked up to spot Lavi, having just narrowly missed hitting the girl with a giant… hammer?

The girl was forced to stop, limping on one of her legs as she gritted her teeth at Lavi, her glare losing its fire as Lavi squared off against her.

"Easy there," Lavi said cheerily, "I don't want to fight a girl as cute as you!"

The girl seemed startled at his words, but immediately frowned. She didn't speak a word.

"What? Don't I get to hear your voice? Oh well, I don't mind as long as this stops here," Lavi said as he lowered the larger end of the hammer close to the ground. "Go back, and take your friend there with you."

Behind the girl, Allen could see the person with the long hair, glaring with true malice as they marched forward, only to be stopped by the girl who put a hand on their chest. They turned to her, but she only looked to Allen before looking back at Lavi.

"I sprained my ankle, we should go back…" she murmured to them, the person's glare turning startled and almost angry. "It's okay… they'll be found, soon…"

"They were _just_ found," the person, now painfully male by the sound of his voice, spoke. "We should kill them _now_."

"Calm down… let's just regroup," the girl said, pushing him back as they began to back down the alleyway, never taking their eyes off of Lavi or Allen, who returned the treatment.

Slowly, Lavi held out his hand without ever turning around, and as Allen took it, Lavi pulled him up to his feet, still standing protectively in front of him.

"You hurt?" Lavi asked.

"No… somehow…" Allen whispered, anxiously holding onto his stumped-shoulder.

As the other two neared the end of the alley, Lavi gave a dry chuckle. "Where'd you learn those moves? You're not even trained…"

Allen shrugged despite not being in Lavi's line of sight, "I don't know… was it that special?"

"It was amazing," Lavi said, a smile on his lips despite the tense atmosphere. "You fended them off for much longer than I could."

As the two opponents reached the end of the alleyway, they both turned and ran, Allen wondering how the girl was handling it with her ankle, but then he followed Lavi as they started walking in the opposite direction.

"C'mon, we need to find Cross and the panda," Lavi said softly, reaching out to hold Allen's shoulder to keep him close. "They're close by, so don't worry."

Allen tried his best to stay focused, but as they came around the sides of the buildings, he found himself glancing back. Those people looked around his age, and the look in their eyes was far too different compared to the spitfire that resided in Cross's, the wisdom and age in Bookman's, and the spark and intelligence in Lavi's. For a moment, Allen wondered what it was he saw, but then quickly wondered what his looked like. Were they empty?

Sighing as he shook his head clear, he looked to the hammer that still rested in Lavi's palm, though it somehow looked smaller than it did a few moments ago.

"Where'd you get that?" he asked, and Lavi only laughed while roughly patting his shoulder.

"This? Bookman got it for me from one of the facilities years ago. I'm lucky enough that the Innocence chose me nicely; a lot of others aren't so lucky," Lavi said, sounding almost at ease despite their search for Cross and Bookman.

Staring at the redhead, Allen found his head tilting. "Innocence is a hammer?"

Lavi sputtered, "N-No! Innocence is a material and natural energy that can form weapons that units can use. My Innocence formed a hammer, but that girl? Her boots were Innocence, and that guy? It was his sword."

"Oooh…" Allen said softly, not feeling confident enough to keep chatting as he kept close to Lavi, making up for the fact that Lavi couldn't see out of his right side.

However, Lavi seemed eager to talk. "Yeah, it takes a little bit of your own organic material and manages to clone it somehow. Bookman says it's like scar tissue, and mixing it with Innocence produces… well, this," he swung the now toy-sized hammer in his hand, smiling pleasantly. "The Innocence has more power if it's connected to your blood… more material, you know? That girl could probably leap over buildings before you injured her."

"How does it get some of your… material?" Allen asked, his voice distant, but he still turned to Lavi to show he was honestly curious, and Lavi nodded, pointing at his side.

"Took a bit out of here… kinda felt like it actually bit me, too."

Allen frowned with disgust, eyes flickering down to Lavi's side. "…Ow…"

"Yeah!" Lavi laughed, anyway, sounding cheerful despite it all.

The conversation died, then, and Allen continued to look around him, including upwards towards the rooftops, now that Lavi mentioned just how powerful the girl may be. He figured that even with her ankle, she could still probably propel herself high enough to get on top of them, so he stayed on guard. Something rumbled in the distance, the smell of something burning making its way through the city to them, but the two of them ignored it, simply weaving through the streets until Cross and Bookman finally came into view.

The two stood on either sides of a lonely street that seemed to be where the city's litter was collected by the wind, bundles of paper and weeds curled up along the walls beside both men's shoes. Cross looked up first and stormed towards them, his glower and the intensity of his eye sending Allen scrambling back and out of Lavi's hold, biting the inside of his cheek as he brought up his one hand in surrender.

Sure enough, Cross roughly grabbed his left shoulder, giving him a hard shake. "Idiot! How'd you manage to make a _bridge_ collapse?!"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Allen just barely kept himself from yelling, his voice nonetheless cracking with the alarm he felt from being just inches away from Cross's thunderous face.

"It held _me_ just fine!" Cross hissed, releasing Allen and shoving him before walking away, Bookman silently following as Lavi gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Aw, he's worried about you," Lavi said quietly, no doubt trying to hide his voice from Cross's ears, which didn't work as Cross jerked his gaze back and Lavi jumped, hiding halfway behind Allen. "I-I mean… he's worried about our cover."

Not looking any different despite the change in Lavi's response, Cross only muttered an, "Idiot…" before continuing on.

Lavi gave a breath of relief behind Allen's shoulder, but then placed a hand on the other before gently pushing him forward. Unsure of where they were going, Allen kept quiet, still glancing around as he worried that they were still being followed, though when they snuck through a gap in a wall and he spotted the garage, their van simply waiting for their return, he felt his muscles release all of the tension they had gathered on the walk there.

Before he could approach, though, Lavi caught his arm and held him there. Allen blinked up at him before Lavi gestured to Cross, who was now holding a… gun?

Thinking back to the shots that held off the swordsman, Allen barely restrained a gasp, watching as Cross slowly stalked up to the van. He peeked through the passenger window, and then moved to the side of the van, and in a loud flourish he threw the door open and jumped back just as a person fell out, feathers jutting out of their body like broken bones as they shakily attempted to sit up.

 _..feathers like steel hanging limply from the sides of cylinders, nearly trailing the floor until.._

What felt like a shock ran up Allen's spine, forcing him back a few paces as he stared, wide-eyed at the person. They slowly and jerkily got to their feet, and for a moment they seemed to be paused, but then lunged. The feathers reached for Cross like extra limbs, many of them emerging from the front of their chest, tearing through the fabric with an almost sickening rip, the ends of the feathers being dangerously sharp. Despite the fear he felt, Allen moved to run forward to intercept it, but before he could even pull his foot off the floor, Cross raised his gun, and a shot echoed through the compact garage.

The person collapsed into a heap, the feathery tendrils thumping against the ground, stiff with their structure but now utterly lifeless. Unfazed, Cross dropped the gun to his side, placing it in the holster under his dress shirt. He stepped forward just as the feathers seemed to break apart, becoming flakes and then nothing at all. The dissolving tendrils left the body even more pathetic looking on the ground, Cross grabbing the back of the corpse's shirt before dragging it aside.

Only just realizing he had stopped breathing, Allen shakily inhaled, lightly thumbing the fabric of his pants before he was pushed forward by Lavi again. His feet resisted, pressing against the pavement, and he was unable to look up at Lavi when he leaned over to look at him.

"Hey, Allen? You alright?" he asked, not receiving an answer. After a pause, he continued, "Hey, don't worry about it, that person was basically dead anyway…" Lavi patted him on the shoulder again. "I… know it's terrible, but they were going to…"

Allen interrupted him, "Was that another unit?"

Looking up at Lavi when he didn't give a response, he saw the young man's one eye staring at him, wide and surprised, but then he nodded. "Yeah… a made-unit. It was a person until someone shoved an innocence in them…"

Frowning, Allen looked back to the body, feeling cold. "So… they were like me?"

He could practically feel the tension coming off of Lavi _and_ Bookman, which came as a surprise, even more-so when he caught Cross looking over before whipping his head away. Both adults then fled to the van, possibly to check it for more things that would come as a problem, but leaving Lavi alone, staring at a loss at Allen.

Lavi made a few noises, beginnings of sentences that he then abandoned, only for him to pause for a moment before he hummed, drawing Allen's eye again as he watched to see if Lavi's response was worth the wait.

Finally coming up with something, Lavi placed his hands on his hips. "Okay, so, you two are the same being units, though the specifics of that isn't known. But! The difference between you two is that you were lucky enough to end up with us! You have free will, a better chance of being yourself… and even though Cross is an ass and gramps is kinda scary, we're still more personable than a superior officer or handler!"

Giving Allen a reassuring grin, Lavi continued, "Also, there are average humans like me, Bookman, and Cross who end up in the same boat: doing terrible things either because they were forced to or because they want to for some reason. Just because you're a unit doesn't mean you're an evil force, you were simply made to be more durable in the face of disasters. You can decide what you want to do yourself, just like anyone else, and you don't have an Innocence so you're basically just a normal person," Lavi ended his lecture by placing his hand on Allen's shoulder, his eye looking deeply into Allen's, obviously trying to read his reactions.

A little surprised at how far Lavi went to ease his anxieties, Allen sighed, dipping his head as he gave a relieved smile. "That's… nice to hear. Thank you, but um…" he turned to the body that was once again being messed with by Cross, though as he felt Allen and Lavi's attention on him, Cross's head whipped around to look at them.

"The fuck you want?" Cross hissed, going back and yanking something out of the corpse with a frustrated scowl, like he'd been trying at it while Lavi was busy talking. Allen startled at the red that came with the motion, but as he jumped back, he felt Lavi catch him. Cross then straightened his back, something resembling white roots twitching in his hand, and he hurried back to the van, disappearing into the hull of it.

"Junior!" Bookman called from the van, "Come check the inside with us, we need to leave immediately."

Nodding, Lavi was about to jog over, but then paused. He flashed Allen one last smile, one painfully sympathetic. "Also, Cross is technically a unit, too. He wasn't made by the Order on purpose, but he's still a unit and worked for them for a long time. It's probably why he cares so much about you!"

Lavi gave a wink before he jogged off, leaving Allen at a loss as he stared after him, attempting to gather his words and hold them. Cross climbed out of the van first before Lavi took his place, the older man pouring a bottle of water over his hands to clean the blood off his fingers. Lavi's words finally sunk in, and so Allen took a deep breath and made his way over, frowning at the blood coming off of Cross's hand before looking up at his face.

"Why did you…"

"Retrieved the innocence," Cross said bluntly. "If they can't have it, they can't use it. We could find some use for it later, too, but we'll see." Feeling Allen's worried gaze, he turned and scowled at him. "Don't pity them; they were the ones who decided to climb in and wait for us. You don't get to choose to have mercy in this world."

Allen only stared at Cross, at a loss of what to say or feel, but then Cross quickly grew tired of it and shooed him off. "That unit was going to get us all arrested or killed. If you have any more questions, go ask Lavi. And while you're at it, make sure that he's doing his job."

Following his line of sight, Allen spotted the open van of the door, only giving Cross one last glance before he huffed and let go of the thought that Lavi put into his head, starting towards the open door. He didn't want to be around the corpse, anyway, so he figured this was a good way to get away from it.

As Allen climbed into the van, he immediately found Lavi between the driver and passenger seats, standing awkwardly in the low ceiling and overlooking everything. Allen opened his mouth to speak, but then Lavi held up a finger to him to silence him, his eye never looking away from where he was looking, which changed rapidly with almost a robotic-like flitting of his iris. He didn't move for several more moments until he smiled back at Bookman in the passenger seat.

"Everything looks good. Nothing's been moved," he said confidently.

"Good," Bookman said before just leaning out the window towards Cross. "It's all intact, Cross."

Cross only gave a grunt from where he was, obviously having a hard time getting the blood under his nails with what little water he had left.

Allen jolted as Lavi then turned to him, his expression warmer than it was before. "So what'd you want, baldie?"

He felt his eye twitch, abandoning the previous conversation as he sighed. "Nothing…"

"Aw, that's a shame, I like telling you things," Lavi said with mock sadness as he turned around to sit back along the boxes where Cross had occupied on the way there, crossing his legs so he almost looked like he was just relaxing. "Say, how about I teach you a new game? I think Cross wants to drive from here to avoid those guys."

Cross climbed into the front seat as he spoke, not giving Allen any time before he started the van, leaving Allen clumsily attempting to close the van door before they could move.

Once that was done, he returned his attention to Lavi. "What game?"

"A little old thing called patty cake," Lavi said as he gave a sadistic grin.

"Are you just amazingly stupid or did you somehow forget that he only has one hand?!" Bookman whirled around as the van came to life, glaring daggers at Lavi who lost the evil glint and instead only looked sheepish.

"O-Oh, that's right," he said, Allen looking between the front seats and Lavi to figure out the joke, though it locked onto Lavi as he gave him a not-sorry smile. "Let's see if we can play something else."

Not very impressed, Allen lowered his eyebrows, though he soon gave in and offered Lavi a weak smile as he sighed, "Alright… what do you have in mind?"

* * *

 **AN: I'm not sure why this chapter is so long, but I'm not about to question it. Also, I think I like writing action scenes... or just like abusing characters. Either one is probably true.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Thank you so much for your feedback! I legitimately gush for hours when I read comments, and I can never think of anything to say back, especially since I like to talk and I don't want to accidentally give spoilers! OTL**

 **Thank you all, again, especially since I know this probably is a little denser of a read than what's out there! ;v; I hope you all enjoy what comes next!**

* * *

Neither Allen or Lavi could decide what to do after the first game hey had in mind was so harshly dismissed, so instead, they sat quietly as they watched the city slowly drift past the windows of the van, the unsaturated colors of the buildings stifling as the streets got tighter and tighter. The roads steadily began sloping upwards, and Allen's eyes fell upon a large square structure, pointed roofs angling like horns towards the sky. The building was cold, and Allen felt apprehension in his bones as he looked over the empty windows and worn outer walls. The road curved under an archway that lead into the building, a small courtyard with splintered crates resting at its sides, pools of water reflecting the grey walls that enclosed them.

As soon as the van fell silent, Cross jumped out and strode to the gateway where they came in from, Lavi opening the door to their side so they could follow him with their eyes. Cross reached up and grabbed a chain by the edge of the opening and gave it a yank, a large and heavy door then falling shut, securing them inside the courtyard. Lavi wasted no time and hopped out of the van, Allen following suit directly after, and soon Bookman came around the opposite side, though he and Cross led them towards a set of stairs to a skinny door to the large building.

Despite the hulking structures all around them, it was quiet except for the distant hollowed sounds of emptiness that seemed to permeate everything, including themselves. The haunting atmosphere was only disrupted when they forced the door open despite its initial resistance, the minimal lighting from the doorway just barely illuminating a few feet in front of them.

The shadows shrouded any features that hid inside, forcing Allen to stick close to Lavi as they made their way in, and only when they entered the shadows did they unveil the complex hallways and darkened passageways. Allen wanted to speak, but the anxiety from the volume-boosting surroundings prevented him from doing so. Their footsteps already carried on farther than he appreciated, especially on the stairs that they climbed up, the sounds going both above and below them.

Finally, when Cross opened a door and led them all inside, Allen allowed himself to feel relief and relax. On the far wall were large windows that overlooked a large expanse of the city, and though it was dark and gritty, Allen felt more comfortable breathing as he took in the view, though Cross walking in front of it drew his attention to him as Cross faced them.

"I'm going to move the car inside. Bookman; I want you and the kid…" Cross pointed at Allen, "not you - keep an eye out for those units and anything else from the Order. Those two were strong so we don't want to see them again any time soon."

Allen was almost offended until Cross mentioned the two units, replacing his agitation with uneasiness as he watched Cross leave and close the door behind him. Bookman and Lavi then all but ran to find spaces to sit, Bookman occupying a chair and not looking at all cautious as Lavi perched himself on a desk, smiling carefree out the window as he lightly kicked his legs. Not knowing what else to do, Allen decided to explore the room, walking around the dusty furniture as he approached the wall. There were several framed pictures of several different people, and as Allen wiped the dust from the glass, he peered curiously at their faces. Their names and rank were beneath their photos, things that Allen immediately understood in the detached way he was quickly becoming used to.

The bookshelves then found his attention, finding almost nothing left but a few thin books that he pulled from the black shelves. Opening them up, Allen saw a few notes about different kinds of Innocence, a few sketched drawings of what appeared to be an Innocence built into someone's body, with veins connecting it to the person's own biological systems, with diagrams of attaching it to vacant areas of the body, particularly stumped shoulders. Furrowing his brows as the strange pictures, Allen flipped through the rest of the pages, which seemed to be more of a personal list of notes made to make whoever's job easier.

"Reading anything interesting?" Lavi suddenly spoke up, Allen jolting as he turned to look at him.

"Uh, just a bunch of things about Innocence…" Allen murmured, though as he saw Lavi's smile encouraging him to continue, he ran his eyes over the pages to find something to talk about. "There's a bunch of sketches about different… forms, I guess. And a couple of notes about their uses and power. This one kind of looks like a metal arm."

"Ah, that's Suman!" Lavi spoke up as he turned to get a look, "I saw him a few years ago. Heard the Innocence ate him up, though," his voice trailed off as Allen stared at him in shock, which seemed to make him continue. "It happened a few months ago; he did something and suddenly he was overwhelmed by the Innocence. It's a double-edged sword, I guess, especially if its attached to you."

Bookman snorted at Lavi's apparent stupidity. "You know that it wasn't the Innocence that ate him. The Clan was involved with him and led to his downfall."

Lavi's eye went wide. "Huh? Really?"

"Innocence doesn't blow people up, or at least, it hasn't been documented to," Bookman turned his dark eyes to Allen. "Can I see that?"

Allen hesitated, but then he nodded, walking over and giving the thin notebook to the old man, who quietly began thumbing through it.

"Ah, yeah, that's Suman Dark's innocence. He's an older accommodator, but I'm still surprised to see him here." He offered the notebook, opened to the page, to Lavi. "It's a previous form of his arm."

"Ooh!" Lavi hopped up and took the book, returning to his desk where he sat with his legs crossed, excitingly going through it. "Ah, it even has some of the generals in here… at least, it has Klaud's. Would Cross's be in here?"

"No, that seems to focus on parasite types," Bookman said, turning towards the window as Allen shuffled.

Walking between Bookman's chair and Lavi's desk, Allen thumbed the fabric of his shirt. "Cross is a general?"

"Used to be," Lavi explained, "his brother went missing so he just up and left. Gramps defected before he did, though, so Cross had to track him down to meet up with him. Gramps already had me before Cross defected, so I've never really seen him as a general as much as I saw him as another grouchy old man looking after me," he grinned widely as Bookman gave him a disapproving look.

Staring in mild awe, Allen approached them. "So… Bookman was a unit, too? Does he… do you also have Innocence?" Allen looked to the man curiously.

Bookman nodded, glancing up at him in a way that made Allen tense his shoulders. "I wasn't a unit; I worked _with_ them, and when an Innocence decided to bond with me, I hid it so they wouldn't separate me from my work like they did with Cross. My Innocence took the form of needles."

Allen winced. "Ow…"

"They're for acupuncture, most of the time," Lavi hummed, continuing to flip through the book. "More for healing than fighting."

His mind didn't process the word 'acupuncture', frowning and wrinkling his nose as he tried to figure it out. "Acu..puncture… puncture, so, you poke things with the needles?"

Lavi laughed, but Bookman only sighed tiredly. "Yes, people, in certain places so that it promotes healing and benefits their health."

"Ooh," Allen hummed in awe before he looked behind Lavi's desk, finding more cabinets that he approached and began exploring. "So… this is supposed to be The Order?"

"One of its old facilities," Lavi continued humming, "it's been retired for a few years."

"Why'd they close it?" Allen asked.

"Inhospitable location; the place was already bad but the weather suddenly started changing and it practically roasted everyone out of here," Lavi said, shrugging. "And it doesn't help that it was constantly being attacked by akuma, either. All the people that lived here were in danger, and it was costing more to protect it than they thought it was worth, apparently, so they just left. After they did, though, the weather suddenly got better and the akuma stopped flooding it nearly altogether."

Glancing at all the books again and then the pictures on the walls, Allen wrinkled his brow thoughtfully. "And they just left all of this here?"

"They must've thought it was unimportant," Lavi shrugged, "maybe they had copies and didn't see the need to carry the extra."

It was weird to think that people used to be here, and Allen tried to think of what they must've done every day. He looked to the pictures again, being able to see them more clearly since he wiped the dust off, and he tried to picture those people in front of him, walking around the room and pulling out books, talking about Innocence and sitting like Bookman or Lavi. What would they be required to do? What would their jobs be? Allen was somewhat afraid to ask, simply because he'd asked so many questions already, so he tried to figure it out himself by imagining them doing the same things as him.

Things were quiet except for the occasional sound of a page turning, and Allen soon returned to the bookshelf to peruse through the books, though some of them made Allen shiver for no observable reason when he touched them, and those he skipped, slightly afraid to see what they would say on their pages. Finally, Allen's fingers settled on the spine of a book, sliding it out of its spot and opening it, seeing simply rows of numbers that held little value to Allen, though as he flipped through more, he found absentminded doodles, like as though a person had given up on it being a professional notebook.

The subjects drawn were humanoid, but their bodies were misshapen, grotesque and terrible, their lines sketchy in only the way procrastination could afford. Allen's eyes flickered up to the two men in the room, wondering if he should ask them, but just as he opened his mouth, something stung in his face and he recoiled, wincing and bringing up the back of his hand to his left eye, trying to wait out the pain but it only intensified.

Hissing as there seemed to be a _snap_ , he dropped the book and pressed the heel of his hand against his eye socket, catching the attention of Lavi and Bookman who turned to look at him, Lavi already on his feet dashing over, hands out to take Allen's arm.

"Allen? What's wro-" Lavi started, but Allen dropped all attention from him when he heard it.

Sobbing. It was quiet, faint, and distant, sounding more like stagnant water than an actual person. It drew Allen's full attention, staring at the door that lead back into the dark hallways, and even as Lavi took his arm, he couldn't pull away his eyes. Something was calling him, the sad sounds pulling at his heart in a strange way, and Allen found himself pulling away from Lavi and towards the door, though as his hand touched the handle, Lavi's covered it, stopping Allen's wrist from turning it but also pulling his attention back to the redhead.

"Hey, hey, Allen, where are you going?" Lavi asked, his voice full of concern.

Allen looked back to the door, took a deep breath, and looked back. "I heard something."

"Cross must be finished bringing the car in," Bookman said easily. "Sound carries in there, you're hearing him."

It didn't sound right. Cross's voice was low and gruff, not at all like the almost childish weeps he just heard, and he frowned, weakly touching beneath his eye as he continued to wince.

"I want to look," Allen said, resisting as Lavi tried to tug him back from the door.

"No… Allen, does your eye hurt?" Lavi asked, Allen shaking his head.

"I want to look," Allen said again, this time putting more sternness in his voice, and as he turned and fixed Lavi with a determined expression, he saw Lavi hesitate, but then sigh, removing his hand from Allen's arm and letting him open the door.

Before Bookman could speak up, Lavi did. "I'm going with you. Gramps, if Cross comes back and gets angry, it's on me, okay?"

Bookman rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "I wasn't going to take the blame for you anyway."

Allen, unable to keep still any longer, pulled out into the hallway, Lavi scrambling to catch up as they began striding through the dark corridors again. Out here, the sound wasn't any louder, but still Allen tried to follow it, his eye stinging at certain hallways, as though leading him. After a moment, he paused, and looked towards Lavi.

"Can't you hear that?"

In the darkness, he could see Lavi looking around blindly, like a lost owl. "No?"

"The crying," Allen frowned, turning back around and continuing, a little faster than Lavi. Why was Lavi having such a hard time walking?

"J-Jesus, Allen," Lavi stumbled after him, "I don't hear any crying, and would you slow down? You'll run into something…"

"No, I won't," Allen said, looking around another set of hallways. The sound felt closer, but it was just as faint. "I'm surprised you're complaining so much, it's not _that_ dark."

"Allen, I literally can't see two inches from my face, and I already have just one eye," Lavi grumbled unhappily, "Wait, you can see?"

"Just below crystal clear."

He heard Lavi groan. "Right, you're a specialized unit. I bet you have night vision…"

So that was probably the answer to Allen's unspoken, barely thought question, but as they came across a wider set of halls, Allen froze as his face began burning, and he reached to stop Lavi from walking. When the man tried to speak, Allen quickly shushed him.

In the darkness at the opposite end of the hall, Allen could see something, a shape, but a distinctive flame coming off of its back that gave off no light. The flame was transparent and a deep purple, moving more like fog or something dissolving into water, but something was inside of it, hovering like a skeleton above the staggering shadow beneath it. It was too dark for Allen to see features, simply its shape, but something about it was off. He could hear the sobs, a little louder now, and Allen felt his lungs get a little stiffer.

"Do we have anything for light?" Allen asked as quietly as possible.

"You should have asked me before we left!" Lavi hissed, not any louder than Allen. "Why, what is it?"

' _Please let me out... are you here to let me out..?_ '

The words tickled the edge of Allen's mind, and as he heard it he saw the shape move, and without a word he grabbed Lavi's arm, turned them both around, and began sprinting.

As though setting off a blast, a series of crashes sounded behind them, slamming the ground behind them but granted enough distance that Allen and Lavi could stay ahead of it. A low guttural series of sounds was reverberating the walls behind them, shadowing Lavi's startled scream and Allen's panicked yelling, but even beneath all of that, Allen could hear its voice.

' _Why won't you let me out?_ '

' _It hurts… I don't want to do this anymore…_ '

' _I want to go home…_ '

' _What do you want from me?'_

' _Just kill me already if you have no use for me..._ '

' _Please kill me…_ '

The final words shocked Allen, and he felt his throat tighten up, looking over his shoulder to see the figure chasing after them, its face distorted in an angry grimace, but just above it in the purple flames was the curled-up husk of what appeared to be a person, hollowed out eyes still appearing to sob as what appeared to be tears leaked from its sockets, mouth seeming stuck in a never changing, deep-set frown, making Allen's stomach churn.

"Lavi, we need to kill it," Allen said, almost without thinking. He wanted to save whatever was attached to it, wanted to save any part of it that he could. If it wanted to die, he wanted to kill it to free it.

Lavi slightly stumbled, but then brought his fingers to his hip, bringing up something before he twisted, shouting, "Duck!"

Allen did, his feet slipping and crashing him onto the floor, and then he felt the whoosh of something heavy flying by before a sharp sound followed. Light exploded and filled the hallway, making Allen wince against it as his eyes fought to adjust, and through squinted eyes he could see the thing more clearly, the strange markings that covered it, as well as its disgusting shapes that seemed to contend with each other, like it couldn't decide in which direction it wanted to keep growing.

Lavi shouted, and as the hammer came in contact with the thing, fire burst from the hammer's edges, roaring to life and launching the thing back before slamming it against the ground, some of the flames skittering up Lavi's arms. Despite the flames, Lavi moved like they weren't there, pulling the hammer up and twirling it to extinguish the flames at its end. Fire glowed along the dust on the floor, illuminating the room such as candles would.

They waited and watched until the thing slowly stirred, but then Lavi ran forward again with the hammer. "Sorry about this!" he shouted before bringing the hammer down on the creature, more flames erupting from the impact. As Lavi brought back up the hammer, he swung it once at nothing, but the wind seemed to make the fire swirl around the creature, eliciting a pained, shrill scream, rattling Allen to his core until he saw it.

The tormented husk seemed to be eroded into something much younger. A face, still gaunt and thin, turned towards them, and large, blinded eyes looked around, almost lost, until they found Allen. They locked onto his own eyes, and despite their shaggy and unkempt appearance, including long, matted hair that fell around them, the ghost only smiled, electrifying and elating in its gratitude. It disappeared quickly, though the voice of its tired, relieved laughter persisted.

The body faded, leaving the husk that simply crumpled to the floor, burnt and now thoroughly dead, though it seemed to be decomposing at a rapid rate. The pain in Allen's eye subsided, and as Lavi sat back, the fire that remained around them illuminated his form, some of it left flickering at the ends of his sleeves, he sighed, wiped his brow, and turned to face Allen.

"You alright?"

It took a moment for the question to process, but then Allen nodded, hurriedly getting back to his feet before he rushed to approach the body, looking over it as he fought the nausea in his throat as he spotted disjointed bones being exposed before they began to erode away, as well. There was a broad black star on the thing's forehead, scar tissue enveloping the edges of it as it didn't appear natural. Black veins spread from its eyes into the rest of the face, and then downwards into the neck where the body was already eroded beyond the first layer of muscle.

Catching Allen's staring, Lavi picked up a falsely instructional tone despite still attempting to catch his breath. "So, that, my dear Allen, was an akuma. They're full of Dark Matter, so don't get too close or it'll melt you away; just their blood eats organic shit to nothing. And, just so you know," he shrunk the hammer again, and lightly waved it for emphasis, "only Innocence is really good at killing them effectively, which is why all of us kept weapons made of it despite not being in the Order."

"Wow," Allen could only manage to say as most of it bounced off his head, and as Lavi gave a weak eyeroll, they both turned back to the body to watch it melt, as though waiting for another akuma to emerge from it.

Things were quiet until Lavi seemed to remember something, making a face before he turned back to Allen. "Wait, were you following it?"

Allen nodded slowly. "I… heard crying… when I saw this thing, there was something above it, and it kind of looked like a person." When Lavi didn't say anything, Allen turned his head and frowned. "What is it?"

"There… wasn't anyone there, and akuma aren't exactly people," Lavi said slowly, but then he looked perplexed in the firelight. "But… for the record, what exactly did you see?"

From the hallways behind them, they heard the echoing calls of Cross, and so when Lavi and Allen turned around to look towards the noise, they both realized they'd better hurry back before Cross came to fetch them himself.

Looking back to Allen, Lavi smiled and started walking, replacing the hammer to its holster. "We'll talk about it when we get back. Come on, Allen."

Happy to get going, Allen chased after him, and to their credit, they only got lost twice.

When they got back, Cross was furious about where they went off to, and why they were making so much noise. Lavi was quick to jump in, explain it in perfect detail, and then asked Allen to tell them what he saw. Allen tried to pretend he didn't notice the confusion and alarm in Cross or Bookman's eyes, much more at ease with the curious and almost elated glow of earnest want in Lavi's, so Allen focused on Lavi more than the others as he tried to explain, but when his words failed him, he moved to the desk and tried to draw it in the dust.

Allen learned he couldn't draw well at all.

Nonetheless, with the scribbled and messy form of a humanoid, and the smaller one in a fetal position above it, Allen seemed to get his point across, even if his attempts to draw the purple fire resulted in more confusion than he would've hoped.

"So this thing was talking to you?" Cross said, squinting as he leaned over the desk to see the drawing more properly.

"I heard the crying first," Allen said quietly, "and when it talked, it was…" he trailed off, worrying his lip under his teeth as he tried to think of how to word it, "it was like it was saying things mindlessly? Like it wasn't really… _thinking,_ but was talking in the hopes that someone would hear it? I don't think it knew anyone was here, but I think it noticed when I was looking at it… it looked happy and laughed after Lavi killed the body."

Lavi staggered back, bracing himself against a chair. "What?! I didn't hear anything like that!"

"It kept saying to 'let me out', too…" Allen added absently, rubbing the back of his neck, "then said it wanted someone to kill them."

Staring at them all for a moment, Bookman moved and stood by the desk, looking at the drawing pensively before he turned to look at Allen. "Can you describe the person you saw?"

Allen shrugged. "Not really… it was dark and they looked more like a corpse, but when the… akuma, died, they changed. They turned younger, maybe younger than Lavi, and um…" he tried to remember, "they were crying… and their hair was long."

"I see," Bookman murmured, and then he sighed. "You said your eye hurt when you felt this presence?"

Allen nodded.

"Then, as I see it, your left eye is for hunting akuma, even if I'm at a loss of how the Order could even develop that kind of technology, but as for what you saw," Bookman replaced his dark eyes onto the desk, "the only thing I can think of is that you saw some remnant energy of the person, meaning; you saw its ghost."

The words struck some cord within Allen, and he weakly shivered as his mind racked to make sense of the connection between the 'ghost' and the monster. While he already thought that their predicament was sad, the realization that the person was _real_ and they were once _alive_ , and made to spend the rest of their afterlife harboring a body that looked like that made him feel fearful. Swallowing thickly, Allen took a breath, rubbing his scarred cheek as he thought of what to say.

"Did… the Order… did they make that akuma?"

"Who knows," Cross said immediately, before snorting angrily, "I know they tried when I was there, but the project was shut down when the higher ups found out. The Order want that sort of power, but they want it to work like Innocence. Innocence is controllable by turning humans into weapons by using their preexisting body to find ways to give them the strength and the means, but dark matter infects the entire body and turns it into a machine, a weapon that's not even living and seems to have few boundaries or limits in terms of power or flexibility. You could say the Innocence is a parasite, it feeds off its master, but dark matter? It kills its host, and uses its corpse as a means to an end."

"So," Allen lowered his brows, "Innocence is paying for the price of power, and dark matter is just… killing people to be pawns?"

"More or less," Bookman said, his eyes holding a strange sheen as he looked to Allen, for which Allen thought was because he worded his answer nicely. "Dark matter is created by the Clan, and the Innocence is _harbored_ and used by the Order in its facilities."

Allen nodded, showing he understood, and then Cross groaned, mussing his hair, his tone gritty and irritated, "Well, at least we'll have a warning system for when an akuma's nearby. Allen," he turned to the teen, "if you sense anything, wake us and don't go after them alone. Only Innocence can stand up to an akuma's strength and poison, and you're the only one who doesn't have any to defend yourself with." His eyes darkened, "An akuma's ghost has no control over their actions; if they see you, they will kill you, regardless if you're trying to help."

It was somewhat frightening, but Allen swallowed his fear and nodded, which seemed to please the man enough to leave him alone, moving to push the desk against the door just to be safe. Lavi went to help him while Bookman led Allen to a connected room. It lacked the gigantic windows of the last one, and while it had a few, they only let in a small amount of golden orange light that projected onto the higher portion of the walls.

Cross had brought back some things from the van, such as food and their blankets, and after they quickly set up camp, they waited for nightfall while maintaining watch from the smaller windows, never creating any light even as the sun set and dropped them in darkness, and then they all went to sleep, Cross taking the first watch since this area had proven to be dangerous.

Hazy dreams about flattened trees and a smoking city in the distance played in Allen's mind until he was woken up by Lavi, instructing him to take watch after him. He was told to simply alert them if he felt something was wrong or if he thought they were in danger, and not to worry if he wasn't sure, because it was better to be safe than sorry.

"If you don't want Cross to be mad at you, then wake up me or Bookman," Lavi said, smiling just before he plopped down on the still warm blanket that Allen had just climbed off of, almost immediately falling asleep, much to Allen's annoyance.

It was weird to be alone with his thoughts, Allen discovered, but he didn't mind it. He felt he could breathe easier, and he just sat by the door, listening, feeling, but mostly he just waited for the time he was told to wake up Bookman. As Lavi explained, Cross had a watch that he set to beep through the night, and when it did, he'd go wake up Bookman and go to sleep until morning. It was a good system, Allen thought, though he didn't know anything different.

He wasn't really tired, and so he didn't struggle in the silence to stay awake, particularly since he could see in the dark, something that came as a surprise when the others couldn't. He had to admit that it was neat, to be able to make up for what the others lacked, but he still felt so useless.

At some point in particular, Allen had gotten bored, and he carefully bent down to gather up Cross's watch, somehow managing to not wake him, and with it in his grasp he slipped from the room and into the connecting one. As he sat on the desk in the room, Allen watched the dark city through the windows, lightly kicking his legs as he expelled a heavy breath. He lightly played with the watch, mostly with the straps rather than the little buttons and nobs around the edge of the watch's center piece, afraid of what would happen if he broke Cross's watch.

The minutes ticked past slowly, but soon Allen felt something he couldn't place. It didn't sting his face like the akuma's presence did, but rather he could feel something in the left side of his chest tingling, like a feathery snake stuck in a too-small cavity, tying itself into a knot. Frowning at the feeling, Allen lightly scratched at his chest, sighing but deciding to ignore it lest it got worse. In time, the feeling did increase, but Allen pushed it off, forcing himself to ignore it, though with nothing happening around him, it was near impossible.

Finally, there was a flash of _something_ in Allen's mind, though it passed before he could fully grasp what it was. Whatever it was, though, felt _familiar_ , and it called to Allen in an almost singing voice, drawing his eyes to the door that lead back into the endless halls of the facility. He stared, lips slightly parted before he closed them and swallowed, glancing to the open doorway leading to the other room where everyone was sleeping.

The tug came again, and Allen frowned and looked down to his chest, his torso barely covered since he lost his shirt in the fight with the units, but then he got to his feet and wandered into the side room. Crouching down, he put the watch by Bookman, hoping it would wake him up, but then he crept back out of the room and shoved the desk a few inches away, just enough to slip through the door and into the hallway.

Allen's breathing lightly shivered with apprehension, his heart thumping loudly beside the writhing feeling in his chest, and he slowly began walking where the feelings were at their strongest. In his mind, Allen berated himself for doing this, for not waking anybody up, but this wasn't an akuma, every fiber of his being telling him so.

Plus, it was calling him. _Specifically_ him, and in a way that left him demanding to know what it was. He didn't want to wake the others up for something like this, especially when it wasn't an akuma in the first place.

The hallway carried his footsteps, the chilly air brisk on his shoulders and stomach, but he didn't want to stop, and couldn't bring himself to turn around even if he bothered trying, following the beckoning feeling that was almost comforting and nostalgic. The pull led him around the hallways on the same floor, and he continued following it until something occurred to him.

' _What if I'm programmed to come when called?_ ' the thought hit him, giving Allen enough willpower to freeze in his pursuit, staring in alarm into the endless corridors as it made his breathing pick up. That changed everything.

He looked to his hand, and then brought it up to the now _squirming_ feeling in his chest. Should he continue? He didn't know, and it scared him, but then he turned around, briskly and stiffly marching back towards where he came, though before he could get even four steps in, his mind flashed again with a familiarity that enveloped him completely. His breath caught in his throat, staring down at his feet as he felt his body suddenly grow hot. Sweat beaded on his skin, but the feeling turned him around and got him walking towards the silent call, the writhing snake getting more excited as he seemed to near what was calling him.

The hallway he turned down was basked in the blue light, seeping in from the large windows that watched the opposite side of the compound, but breaking into that light was a silhouette, the sight of which making Allen freeze. The imposing stature slowly made him step back, but before he could turn around, a low voice met his ears.

"Allen," the voice called out, radiating through his body. "That's your name, isn't it? Why don't we talk. Come over here."

The tug pulled at his chest again, but Allen didn't move. "Who… who are you?"

He could practically hear the smile on the man's lips. "Somebody who cares about you very much, Allen, and someone who wants to help you."

"I can save you from your blight, Allen, if you let me."

* * *

 **AN: Funny enough, canon Allen can actually see in the dark because of Cross's teachings! Whether that is a good or bad thing is up to debate! (also, animals that can naturally see in the dark have reflective pupils, which shine if you point a flashlight at them! It's really creepy!)**


	6. Chapter 6

Allen stared, dumbfounded at the offer, and he took another step back, the writhing in his chest now completely still. "What… blight?"

The man gave a small laugh, and began walking towards him in a gate more straight and noble than anything Allen had seen. "The one that exists within you, Allen. You are so very cursed, and it will only bring you sadness and allow more abominations to plague our world if it remains. I can purify it, though, Allen… that scar on your face, it will be erased, and you will be free of its effects, and the infection in your chest will be eradicated. They wouldn't let me before, but now there is nothing in my way from helping you…"

Something throbbed within the left side of Allen's chest, and he dug his fingernails into the fabric covering it, and while the throbbing was pulling him forward, his feet stepped back. "No thank you, I'm fine."

With that, he turned and started storming back down the halls, not even caring if he got lost as long as he got away from the man. But just as he began rushing away, he felt fingers snag his arm, whirling him around so that Allen was face to face with a man.

Or at least, it had looked like a man from far away.

The thing was covered in torn wrappings, slivers of translucent pearly white skin showing through the tears. Around its head, the wrappings seemed to have been torn off, allowing its wild and piercing eyes and grimacing smile to direct themselves at Allen. Its fraying fingers dug into his arm, making Allen yelp and attempt to scramble back, though the hand held him firm, unmoving.

"You are not fine, Allen. You can't go with those people who will only lead you to rot. You will fester and spoil like a fallen apple under their care, but I," its smile widened even more, "I can return you to what you were meant to be, free from your infections and disgraces and bring you back to us."

The words felt like they were festering themselves, making Allen's stomach churn at the proposition, and he attempted to yank his arm free, wincing from the pain it brought and instead set to yelling out as loud as he could until his throat began to sting. When he ran out of names to call, he just started shrieking, hoping it would carry through the many labyrinthian halls more than any words could.

The thing never bothered to try and stop him from struggling as it dragged him down the illuminated hallway and towards the lighted windows. The short and almost strangled breaths Allen was left with between screams made it difficult to keep struggling, but still he tried to kick at the thing to get it to release him. Every time his foot connected with it, it felt like kicking a concrete wall. Nothing seemed to faze it, and as the light basked over them, Allen could feel panic overflowing through his body, like as though every step carried them miles away from the others.

"You can scream all you want, but it won't do you any good," the thing said, "no Innocence can harm me, so your friends will be helpless." It swung Allen around, banging his back on the glass and pinning his arm before it leaned in, still smiling wide enough to crinkle its eyes, "You were so perfect, Allen; a perfect accommodator until they decided to meddle with perfection… and even if I have to coax it out of you, I will make you perfect again."

Allen didn't know what it would do to achieve that, but he didn't care. It was terrifying, and he immediately started screaming again, continuing his thrashing, though he couldn't do much with his one arm restrained and the thing being resistant to his kicks. His voice wheezing, Allen instead banged himself against the glass, kicking against it and feeling it shudder beneath him in an attempt to do _anything_.

The thing raised Allen's arm above his head, dropping its free hand to the throbbing side of Allen's chest. Its fingers began sliding up under the fabric of Allen's shirt, making him squirm as he fought off the urge to retch, instead putting all of his effort into hitting the glass to break it, disregarding the danger it posed to himself. He could feel the thing's fingernails on his skin, but when they began to dig into his flesh like drills, pain screamed through Allen's body, sending him into convulsions against the glass as it felt like he was being filled with white lightning. Iron spread through his mouth, and he found himself unable to move his limbs as his muscles tensed, the thing never hesitating and always grinning.

A blast stung Allen's eardrums, snapping his focus back from the pain as he looked over the thing's shoulder, spotting someone at the end of the hall. The person rushed forward, and Allen realized it was Cross, revolver in hand. Lavi and Bookman weren't far behind, their weapons ready brandished.

"Cross!" Allen shouted, hot tears in his eyes from the pain that lessened in his chest, but didn't stop throbbing, nonetheless.

"Fuck..!" Cross hissed, holding up his revolver again, but Bookman clicked his tongue harshly at his side.

"It won't do anything," Bookman said quickly, "that thing is Innocence."

"Shit, it's one of the _those_ …" Cross grumbled, his eye glossing over the thing's body only once before he lowered his revolver and raised his hand instead, glaring the monster down.

The creature gave a low laugh, stepping aside to show that it wasn't at all afraid about their presence, his fingers regaining their strength to burrow into Allen's chest that wrenched out a shrill shriek.

"Do you wish to spoil the sanctity of his body so much? You don't know Allen nearly as much as I do, and you don't know anything about Innocence, even if you wield some of it yourself." The thing's lifeless eyes rolled over to Allen, snatching his attention though he could still taste blood in his mouth. "You, however, Allen, have so much potential hidden inside you, and I'm willing to bring it out of you, but you will need to join with me. An Innocence as powerful as me can make you the most powerful accommodator. We will be perfect together."

The words twisted Allen's expression into a scowl, and he spat blood onto the thing's face, sneering at its expression once it realized it was being rejected, "Like I want any part of you anywhere close to me! Just the idea of having you as my Innocence makes me want to vomit."

"That attitude is still in need of fixing… I will make you accept me, Allen," the Innocence said slowly, almost like it was scolding him.

It released Allen's arm, but then all of Allen's weight fell onto the fingers imbedded in Allen's chest, the only things keeping him off the ground. Pain exploded through Allen's body, escaping in a scream of agony as his weight was being supported by a bleeding wound.

"You will be the closest thing we have to an angel, Allen, you will be strong and beautiful, just as you were meant to be," the Innocence continued, disregarding the fact that Allen was writhing, his screaming nearly grinding the thing's voice into nothing.

Allen's eyes flitted up to the men behind them, pleading for any sort of help, but he could see the frustration and panic in all of their eyes, unsteady movements as they tried to gauge what was the right action, and when they should do something. Out of all of them, Lavi was fidgeting the most, wielding his hammer in shaking hands, teeth gritted as he seemed to be stuck. It was gone, suddenly, as it seemed that a thought struck him, and then he rushed forward without a word.

With a single motion, it seemed like a storm enveloped Allen and the thing, but instead of pain, he heard something shatter behind him putting everything in motion.

Taking the chance, Allen raised up his legs and struck them as hard as possible against the Innocence, and while something felt _wrong_ in his chest, he managed to free himself of its tendril-like fingers. He only saw the creature's startled face for a second before he was met by things passing him by, and while he was clutching the now gaping holes in his chest, he looked down and tried to gauge how to land.

He didn't know they were so close to the ground.

Allen screamed when he realized he couldn't adjust his position in the air, but before he felt the ground break his fall, a cyclone of wind descended from the shattered window, circling around him and slowing his fall until he was gently placed on the ground. Turning his head up, Allen didn't see anything, but he could hear the explosion of a battle starting, sharp blasts of light flashing from the corridor. Thinking of the past experiences, Allen took a shuddering breath before he stumbled off into the courtyard and to one of the tunnels that were open to him, the throbs in his chest so achingly familiar, but as he could feel the wetness of blood trailing down his abdomen, he knew he had to be quick before he would be left even more vulnerable than he already was.

Despite the pain, Allen shoved his hand hard against his chest, wheezing as it throbbed harshly, but he didn't know what else to do, his mind only offering him the task of stopping the bleeding and nothing else. Wincing through the pain, Allen staggered through the paths that made him think of the rest of the city, with the ground hard but crumbled, and the endless walls of concrete. He was outside, he could tell, so he figured he would have more options when it came to escaping and finding somewhere to hide, though he'd have to find those options first.

As he walked forward, his mind ran over every word he heard the Innocence say. It knew him? How could it know him? He only knew Cross and the others in their tiny group, but the Innocence gave him a feeling of familiarity, able to draw him in easily with merely its presence.

His eyes focused on the end of the walkway he entered, and as he continued searching for answers, he heard the fast-paced sound of footsteps behind him. Allen whirled around to face it, met by cold, harsh eyes before the glint of a blade snapped by his face, just barely avoiding it before he clattered to the ground with a painful wheeze. Allen pushed himself up awkwardly and tried to scramble away from the man whose eyes held nothing but contempt.

He froze in his escape when the man held his sword to his throat, Allen gritting his teeth and clutching his chest as he fought to catch his breath. As he stared at the man, he could see the flashes of light behind him, and Allen connected that the monster must have been there with the units.

The man stared at him briskly for a moment, but then scoffed, "Why do they even want you so bad? They told us not to kill you, but you're so goddamn weak. Even if you got an Innocence, you would die within a week." It almost felt like he was talking to himself.

Allen felt his eye twitch, and he snarled back. "I don't know and I don't care! I don't want any part of this!"

"Shut up," the man coldly said back, the glower on his face deadly, "they told us if you put up too much trouble that we could kill you. I'm tempted to do it and just say you struggled."

"Kanda, don't!" a girl's voice spoke up, and Allen recognized her as the one before as she hobbled up, her ankle still not completely healed. "If you kill him you'll be the one in trouble, you know." She turned her eyes to Allen, and he could see her trying to keep a wall up between them, but at the same time, he could see it almost weaken as she met his eyes, especially as she dropped her eyes to his chest.

Allen held her stare, and then, when she turned back to the man, he twisted and stumbled, pushing his legs to run faster than he did from the akuma, feeling his heart race in his chest, the unwelcome feeling of hot blood sticking to his skin. It was stupid, really, to think he could outrun the others again when he was this injured, and he expected it when he felt a weight slam against his back and send him to the ground, pinning him with a knee digging into his back.

With gritted teeth, Allen hissed against the pain that came from both the pressure and the way it rubbed his wound against the crumbling ground. A hand gripped the loose fabric between his shoulder blades and yanked him to his feet, but Allen didn't pull his eyes away from his possible escape route, trying to fight off the fear in his chest.

"Come on," the man's voice came, giving Allen a hard tug, but it only prompted Allen to let out his voice.

"Lavi!" his voice cracked from the force he used to scream.

The man hissed and instead grabbed him by the shoulder and trying to pull him again, causing him to stumble back as he winced.

The girl then ran up, looking both stressed but with a hardened look in her eye like she'd done this all her life.

"We don't have time for this, we need to go," her arm took Allen's, but Allen tried to pull against them. "Don't make this harder; you'll bleed out if you keep doing that."

Regardless of her warning, Allen resisted, and they both worked together to hold him back while also trying not to hurt him, but the pain in his chest was beginning to scream, the disgusting pulsing from it becoming unbearable, and without his hand free, Allen couldn't keep the pressure there. He could already feel his legs getting cold, finding it a little harder to focus, but he needed to. If anything, his body should be capable of this, it should be capable of withstanding a little bit of pain.

" _Lavi!_ " Allen screamed, loud enough he could feel his vocal cords almost pop, but as an explosion came from the courtyard, Allen deemed it worth the pain.

A large hammer glistened slightly, just enough to make it stand out in the darkness, and then it swirled, the edges flashing with light as a whirlwind spiraled down the tunnel where they were. Allen braced his legs, but so did the others, preventing them from being blown off their feet, though the girl was close to being picked up by the winds. Just as the winds settled, though, Allen's eyes found Lavi as he jumped in front of him, swinging the now smaller but longer hammer between Allen and the swordsman, clashing weapons as Allen ducked behind Lavi, now free of the swordsman's grasp.

Allen could see where Lavi's face was slightly red and swollen, not yet bruised or fully responding to the damage, but he could see that it was a hard hit. Nevertheless, Lavi was grinning confidently, holding off the swordsman well enough by the looks of things.

"Sorry, got a little tied up with that creepy thing," he said with confidence, never taking his eye off the swordsman, "also, sorry to you guys, because Allen's ours."

Neither of the others said anything, the swordsman only backing off to take another strike while the girl took several steps back and brought her hand up to her ear.

 _Radio_ , Allen's mind provided, and he cringed. She was going to bring more trouble.

Suddenly, Allen felt himself get grabbed and tossed aside, and only when he finally caught himself did he realize that Lavi had thrown him out of the way. Taking the hint, he backed up, avoiding the girl who was now focusing on him now that he was without a guard, but leaving Lavi to only deal with the swordsman. Since she was injured, Allen could somewhat keep up with her, but he had to awkwardly balance himself, now being forced to cover his wound, so he had no arms for balancing or defending anymore.

Blood seeped between his fingers, and he hated the feeling, making him feel sick and desperately wanting to escape, but also not wanting to leave Lavi. They'd obviously take him, too; Lavi could use Innocence, so he was probably worth something, and Allen didn't want to be the one to get him caught when they must have hunted Lavi for his whole life until now.

The girl was having a hard time attacking, mostly just trying to subdue Allen since he couldn't exactly fight either, which was better than dealing with the swordsman. The girl's ankle made it hard for her to pivot, jump, and land properly, but that didn't stop her from leaping in the air and giving two kicks that hit Allen with a gust of wind, fully picking him off his feet and throwing him down roughly. She landed on her uninjured leg and began to approach just as the swordsman had landed a hit on Lavi, crimson splattering on the ground as Lavi darted back, trying to put distance between them as he was now holding his abdomen. Allen caught their fight for a moment before he returned his eyes to the girl, wide but not pleading for mercy. He needed to get everyone out of this.

Something tugged at his chest, and it pulled his eyes away from the girl and upwards, just catching the strange _thing_ standing below the shattered window, moonlight illuminating its crystalline white skin and making it stand out against the darkness. Its hand was outstretched, fingers angled downwards, but it only occurred to Allen that it was calling something when the feeling his chest writhed with newfound intensity. White lightning shot through his body, and then something tore out of his chest, winding and feathery but it pulled like it was trying to unravel him. It was choking, silencing every noise that tried to leave Allen's mouth, strangled attempts at screaming breaking through the fight that was happening nearby.

It suddenly dawned on Allen that that _thing_ put something in his chest when he caught him, left a little bit of itself so it could locate him if it lost him, possibly place an anchor for later. Or it could've always been there from his creation in a lab, and the creature above him was simply activating it. Allen didn't know which one was more likely, and he didn't know which one was scarier.

It hurt too much to think about for any longer as it felt like the Innocence was using the insides of his chest to pull him up to his feet, excruciating and forcing him to stumble towards it, or risk having his heart ripped from his chest by resisting.

Ice and fire burned in his chest, and Allen gagged on the terrible feeling as it forced him to walk, not sure if the blood in his mouth was from the trauma happening to his body or if his teeth had found something to sink into to repress the rest of the pain. His fingers dug at the Innocence to release him before he could get too close to the Innocence, gouging at his own flesh when his nails didn't break through the curling white feathers.

Despite the commotion around him, Allen's eyes only focused on the feathers, his ears suddenly deaf to the units and the fights around him, and their presence was erased from his mind.

Allen clawed harder and harder at the wound and the feathers in an attempt to tear them off, his breathing too fast and making the world sway around him. The blood felt awful, sticking and heavy and feeling like it was everywhere on his body. He couldn't breathe, and his mind was screeching like machinery coming to a halt but never stopping entirely, continuing to make the godawful noises until something broke through it all, leaving it all silent.

' _You're not allowed to touch him._ '

Something flashed through Allen's body that felt like a knife to his heart, but it made the monster's eyes blow wide open like it had felt a stab of pain, pulling away its hand as it released its hold on the Innocence in Allen's chest, only to have the tendrils disintegrate away. The pain alleviated the moment the white feathers in Allen's chest had turned to dust, but the damage was done. Allen fell to the ground, eyes wide as his mind stopped working in shock, a storm of sensations racing down his spine and crawling over the back of his neck and the base of his skull.

He only faintly saw an explosion of flames overhead before someone jumped from the window, their long fiery red hair flashing in the dim lighting before he landed in front of the monster. Cross wasted no time before he raced to gather Allen up off the ground, ignoring the blood on him and his own injuries, a trail of crimson running down his face from the crown of his head. Cross cursed under his breath as he took all of Allen's weight into his arms, and instead of defending, he just turned to run. Before he could make his first stride, however, the girl got in his way, her eyes fearfully wide, but she held herself steady, prepared to lunge. Bookman then appeared, as silent as he always was, besides Cross, more graceful than the taller man, but she didn't falter any worse with the new opponent.

There was a crash, and Lavi was at their side in a moment, but that meant the swordsman was free to back up the girl, as well. Their eyes were locked on Cross, challenging, leaving Lavi to drop his attention to Allen, unable to care about them anymore, especially when Allen was struggling to breathe.

"Really working with that thing? Was it sent with you or did it meet you here?" Cross asked gruffly, turning his head to keep an eye on the Innocence and finding it deathly still, like it was paralyzed. "I didn't know Innocence was allowed to leave headquarters without an accommodator. Is it meant to merge with him? He'll die twice as painfully if it tries. Give up and go; he'll die in your care, regardless."

The girl's eyes dropped to Allen, the apprehension in them only growing, but then they slowly dragged back to Cross, her voice wavering. "Our mission is to take him back. We can heal his wounds."

"Not what I meant," Cross sneered, and then he glanced at Lavi. "Get us out of here, kid."

Lavi gave an exhausted grin, the two unites belatedly realizing that Cross was just a distraction, but Lavi already had the motions prepared before he skid the edge of the hammer against the concrete harshly, creating a spark that then exploded into flames. With another swing of the Innocence, the flames swirled around them to create a barrier, the waves of flame crashing against the still frozen Innocence and covering it completely.

With the barrier in place, the three bolted for the doors into the building, Lavi knocking it down as he was forced to lead, still gripping his stomach. As they weaved through the endless hallways, Cross hissed lowly as he looked down and spotted Allen's eyes defocusing, holding him a little tighter and attempting to keep him against his chest, not wanting to jostle him too much.

Lavi almost tripped himself and Cross by closing in on his side, straightening himself to see Allen better. "Allen! Jesus, what did that thing do…"

"Whatever it did, his body rejected the Innocence and destroyed the probe that was inside him," Bookman calmly stated, stoically adding, "Only the Clan is capable of that."

Lavi's eye widened immensely. "He's a Clan member?!"

"No, it must've been something else," Cross hurriedly said. "We can discuss it later."

Allen was pale, trembling regularly, and as soon as they came across the van as it was parked in a proper garage, they piled in.

Lavi took the wheel while Bookman and Cross shoved around boxes until they could lay Allen down, haphazardly digging through boxes until they found what they needed. Cross held Allen up to surround him with a blanket, yanking his bloodied shirt off and fully exposing the wound that was still angrily red and bleeding. Bookman settled a box of supplies beside Allen's legs, and quickly grabbed a medical pad and gave it to Cross to hold down on the wound, immediately becoming soaked through, though Cross kept it there. Bookman quickly gathered the other supplies and handed Lavi a towel to hold against his own wound, leaving Cross and Bookman trying to make do with the unsteady van as Lavi tried to get out of the building as fast as possible.

As soon as they were out, though, other vehicles tried to intercept them, but Lavi managed to shake them off in the city when their numbers proved too much for the narrow streets. By the time they reached the outer walls, Allen was barely conscious, breathing heavy and labored, and his eyes slowly fluttering. Bookman had numbed the area with his needles instead of using medicine, and Cross's bloodied hands had given as much pressure as he dared to the wound, trying to slow the bleeding as much as he could while Bookman pieced together a serum and administered it, closing the rest with a long row of stitches. Luckily, the Innocence was smart enough not to cut an artery, but it was still too close to Allen's heart for comfort.

Allen could only faintly register all that was happening, his mind numb and blank as his body all but rang with shock and pain. It was getting better, though he was also getting more exhausted. He didn't miss Lavi vocalizing how they were being followed by one last vehicle that seemed to catch up out of nowhere, but Cross said to pay it no mind, to focus only on getting away from the facility.

The van suddenly shook and rocked as they came to a house off the road that was painfully uncared for, skidding to a stop in the tracks of old vehicles that used to regularly park there. The doors were thrown open and then sealed just as quickly as they clambered out of the van, Cross with Allen in his arms, then Bookman and Lavi carrying the needed supplies in with them.

They were inside within moments, the bones of the house blackened by an old, forgotten fire and uncomfortably empty. They laid out as many things as they could to provide a soft place for Allen to lay down, though Lavi came in with bundles of dry grass, placing that under a blanket and immediately moving Allen to it. Allen sighed at the softness, bleary eyes flickering over the slightly blurry images of those around him.

Lavi collapsed beside him with Bookman, and Allen groggily watched as Lavi removed his shirt, Bookman examining his wound before deeming it shallow and in no need of stitching, and then they set to bandaging him up. With Lavi's wound tended to, he changed to a different shirt and moved closer to Allen, his one eye not focusing on him as it looked like the gears in his head were spinning fast enough to squeal, and yet despite his focused stare, he looked lost and unsure of what he was supposed to do.

"Lavi," Allen murmured quietly, breaking into Lavi's thoughts and drawing his attention, "did you see who was in the car behind us?"

After a moment, Lavi seemed to startle, wide-eyed, but then his eyebrows turned downwards, his mouth in a grim line. "Don't worry about it, Allen. You could've died, you know?"

Registering Lavi's words, Allen gave a lopsided smile, voice horribly hoarse. "Really? I didn't notice."

"Don't get sassy," Cross sat next to him and thumped him, sighing as he pulled a bag off his shoulder and rummaged through it, shoving a bundle of bandages to Lavi. "Make sure you change his bandages until it stops bleeding through. And make sure he eats," he added before he tossed a can of fruit at Lavi.

Blinking at Cross, Lavi took both the bandages and caught the can, nodding quietly. After Cross left another can of pears, presumably for Lavi, Lavi helped Allen sit up, being mindful of the way his face cringed as he moved.

"Feel like eating, yet?" Lavi asked, tapping his finger on the top of the can for emphasis, but Allen only grimaced.

"No… I feel sick," he said, his voice hoarse and raspy.

Lavi sighed, but seemed to relax just slightly. "Well, yeah… you lost a lot of blood, so…" His eyes stared at Allen's front, covered in streaks where only some of the blood was wiped off, "and we should get that all cleaned up. Wanna do that?"

Before Allen could answer, Bookman snapped at him. "Don't let his bandages get wet!"

"I won't!" Lavi snapped back, but when he turned back to Allen, he was already nodding.

"Yeah… this feels really gross, I really want it off," Allen said quietly, his voice wavering as he was now hyper-aware of the stickiness of his chest.

Wordlessly agreeing, Lavi put the things Cross gave him aside, and he searched for a water bottle before getting a rag, and though the water was cold, it was better than being covered in blood, even if the blankets ended up catching a lot of water. Lavi had to leave to clean his hands, but when he returned, he sat beside Allen, crossing his legs.

"After all of that… are you feeling okay?" he asked, and Allen nodded, but that didn't seem to put Lavi's worries to rest as he leaned forward. "Really? That thing tried to tear you apart! Are you sure?"

Allen gave him a tired look, and then nodded with more determination to make it unquestionable how he felt. "I'm fine, Lavi… it was… really scary, but you guys saved me, right? I'm better now…"

"It's fine if you're not," Lavi mumbled, and he took to fiddling with the can of fruit that Cross had given him. "Those things are creepy… but I don't think I've seen one like that, before."

"That was one of the Order's bigger ones, so they probably didn't send it on purpose," Cross muttered from across the room. "Those units will probably have to get it back in its tank before it blows something up, so we'll at least be free from them for a couple of days."

Cross's tone left the topic at that, and Lavi and Allen felt no further urge to continue the conversation. As they lapsed into silence, Allen had nothing to keep him awake until Lavi nudged him, making sure that Allen was awake enough before he mentioned changing the bandages before Allen fell asleep, and so he allowed him to. Once they were changed and the old bandages were disposed of, Allen was allowed to lay down, though it somehow seemed to make the atmosphere heavier than it was before.

When Allen finally fell asleep, Lavi stayed awake to keep watch of his condition, with Cross and Bookman watching the window. Nestled just beside the shadowy woods was a large vehicle, dark and quiet. Behind the vehicle itself, in the wooded expanse of trees, shadows lapsed in and out of view, running like forest spirits or ghosts, twisting Allen's expression when they ventured too close.

The sun barely crested the horizon, but it hardly felt like a new day was beginning, and it didn't bring as much positivity as anyone wanted. The last glimmer of pleasantness had dispersed, replacing it with deeper shadows as the sun broke above the trees.

* * *

 **AN: *Yoko Taro voice* I just like hurting my boys.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: I don't know what happened but I completely forgot what day it was and that I had to edit this, but then the whole time my cat was attacking everything in my house, including me!**

* * *

"They're still out there," Cross muttered, his voice, though quiet, loud against the backdrop of battle outside. It was safer in the house than it was outside, as there seemed to be akuma practically flooding the area but not getting too close to the house.

Every few hours, Allen had lurched upright, sometimes out of a deep sleep, wide-eyed and panting. His face was twisted with pain from his left eye, as though the scar was hurting him.

The units outside kept the akuma at bay, never making them a threat to everyone in the house, but that didn't stop Allen from feeling their presence, from feeling every muscle in his body tense like he wanted to do something about it. For some reason, every time it happened, the others either stared too long at him or averted their eyes too quickly, but after several minutes, it was quickly forgotten as the adrenaline passed, like the akuma were just nightmares.

Allen had just awoken from another start, his left eye throbbing, but he stayed where he was, curled up on the floor atop his bed, hugging his knees close to his chest. He was listening for anything outside, or at least trying to, as his breathing slowed, and the others offered him the favor of remaining quiet.

However, staying quiet could only last so long with Lavi, as he came by and draped his arm over Allen's shoulders, giving him a soft shake. "Hey, kid, how's your chest?"

Allen's shirt was hanging up to dry, having to be thoroughly washed since it was soaked through with blood, but in the meantime, Allen wore one of Lavi's shirts, only just covering the lump of bandages on his chest. Allen looked up at him for a moment before he dropped his gaze to the floor again, fingers gripping the fabric of his pants. "I'm fine."

Lavi tilted his head, "Really? Doesn't hurt at all?"

"It does, but it's fine," Allen said quietly, turning his attention to Cross and Bookman, speaking louder for them to hear, "What are they doing?"

"Fighting the akuma, keeping watch on the house," Bookman said, looking fairly troubled by this. "They're probably waiting until you're stable enough that they can risk taking you; if they move you too early, you'll just die in transport."

"How big is our window then?" Lavi asked, "I mean, how long until Allen's good enough to move?"

Cross snorted, "Too long, his chest got fucked up badly. We could start driving again in a day or two but we'll probably have to go early when they least expect it. But they'll probably guess we'll do that and won't let us get away easily."

"Not to mention we don't want to jostle him too much, or be caught in a situation where he has to run," Bookman put in, glancing out the window again. "In any case, it's going to storm. We can use that to protect us for now."

"Cross…" Allen looked up at the man, his eyes cloudy with worry, "that… thing from before won't come back, right?"

The man lumbered over, sitting on the floor but it seemed to irritate him. "No, it shouldn't. Those things aren't supposed to be outside like that in the first place."

Allen frowned. "What even was it?"

"Innocence; the same as Lavi's hammer, but sentient, capable of acting on its own and apparently able to gain a form to walk around in," Cross explained, not looking at Allen but instead still watching the window.

Staring at the man as he thought of what that meant, Allen grimaced and looked at the floor. "So… it wanted to become my weapon? That's what it said, right?"

"Who the fuck knows," Cross huffed, rolling his shoulders back as he leaned back. "The whole Order wants you, so don't focus on that one thing. The Order has its own agenda, but Innocence isn't synonymous with them. Whether that's good or bad all depends."

Frowning, Allen looked back up to Cross, taking in his slightly burnt appearance and the bandage barely visible under his bangs, but he appeared fine despite that. His eyes rolled to Bookman next, and he appeared fine, as well, a little less damaged, but then he turned his gaze to Lavi, who was one of the worst out of them all. His face was bruised, the spot under his eyepatch dark and swollen. He also had a series of bandages around his torso, hidden under his loose clothes. They were all tired from that attack, but luckily, they still had their supplies they left in the van during the attack, at least one bit of relief that could come from that sort of scenario.

"Allen, look up for me."

Bookman's voice startled him, and as Allen looked up, he saw Bookman crouching in front of him, running a hand over his cheek and looking into his eyes for a few moments.

The gaze was intense, but Allen found it within himself to not look away, which appeared to be good enough for Bookman as he exhaled a deep breath and straightened up again.

"Your eyes are still clear, and your mind seems fine, but still try to be careful and relax," Bookman said, the creases in his forehead becoming deeper, "In this time you should focus on healing instead of anything outside. Leave the rest to us; you'll be no good if you make yourself an anxious mess."

Allen jolted, but then nodded guiltily, not sure what he could do. Nobody was willing to step outside, particularly when Allen was feeling the presence of akuma, so they couldn't bring anything in from the van to busy themselves.

They only had each other.

Hearing an overdramatic sigh, Allen looked over to Lavi, lips pursed and eye focused directly on Allen's as he swung his hammer around in his hands, only the size of a toy. "Say, Allen, I know I'm not supposed to overload you, but how about a story to pass the time?"

Eager to get his mind off things, but not so trusting of Lavi's stories after the first night, Allen grimaced in return and glanced to Cross, raising an eyebrow.

Cross only scoffed.

"See! It's fine!" Lavi moved around and sat in front of Allen, gesturing wildly despite his injuries. "What do you want to hear about, hmm? The Clan? The Order? The outliers? Units? How about the times before? Maybe a made-up story?"

The words made Allen hear sirens, and he sat back, gawking, "Are you trying to put me in another coma?!"

"Not this time!" Lavi grinned, even as Bookman was sending him a warning glare. "I could tell you about Bookman, too; I'm just trying to mention things you've probably heard before."

Thinking about it, Allen slowly relaxed, crossing his legs and folding his hand in his lap. "Well…" he furrowed his brow, "the… Clan… you mentioned it after the Order blew up the house we were staying in, but it was when I was recovering from overloading, so you didn't let me ask."

Lavi beamed, "Oookay! I can't believe you remembered that conversation, but I'll start with them, then!"

Putting on a show about getting more comfortable, Lavi also crossed his legs, situating himself in the low-lighting so that even though the sun was being obscured by clouds, he was still easy to read, despite knowing that Allen could see well in the dark.

Once seated properly, Lavi started talking, his voice taking on a tone that Allen felt he'd only seen glimpses of when he explained things. "So, the Clan are a group of normal humans; they're not units or even accommodators. They actually hate units and the Order, and will destroy anything they find from it! Even Innocence since it'll never bond with them, so they have no use for it and only see it as a nuisance."

Uneasy, Allen shifted a little to the left.

"The Clan are made up of a bunch of individuals, each imbued with dark matter, which only mixes well with those people, and possibly those chosen by them. We don't know much about the Clan or their dynamics, but there's rarely ever more than a few members in one place at a time. The most members the Order's recorded at one time is thirteen."

"We confirmed they had at least fifteen members a while ago, if I remember correctly," Cross murmured, a little too softly to be normal.

"And we've been seeing all new faces, too! We have no idea how many members there are, really, because they're pretty reclusive," Lavi beamed. "But, these people also have powers, different from us accommodators. They don't need a weapon to use theirs, their powers are within their own bodies."

Allen tilted his head. "What kind of powers?"

Lavi thought, his head turning up to the ceiling, but then it turned back to Allen. "Ah! There's this one girl, she's been around forever; she can create random doors and is basically a ghost." At Allen's still confused expression, Lavi continued. "I mean, we can see her and she can affect everything she touches, but regardless of what happens to her, she always comes back!"

"And you know that how?" Allen asked, "Did the Order keep track?"

"They do, but we personally had a mole in their ranks for a while," Bookman said curtly, "but we didn't get much other than some powers and a few dynamics."

"So," Allen rasped, "what else about the Clan?"

As though excited that someone actually wanted to learn from him, Lavi scooted forward some. "So, the Clan is almost an organization of their own. One reigning person with their underlings, and they all work together to create the akuma. You already were told about them before, how they're created by dark matter by distorting a human's body until they're basically just a weapon of destruction."

Allen's eyes widened, and he slowly nodded. "So… the Clan make the akuma…"

"Yep, or at least, we think so," Lavi said a with a little too much pep in his voice, but it soon turned solemn. "The Order's higher ups are pretty ruthless, so they kind of use the Clan as a reason to keep doing… this," he gestured to everything around them. "After the old war ended, people thought we'd need to stop making units, but because of the Clan's akuma, the Order never stopped." Seeing that Allen was frowning and not looking very pleased, Lavi continued, "Yeah, it all really sucks, but you meet the best kind of people in these situations, right?"

Raising his eyes, Allen saw Lavi's almost genuine smile, and Allen flashed one back. "Yeah, sure."

A sharp pang ran through Allen's left eye, and he quickly turned his head towards the window, lips slightly parted as the others followed his gaze. A human-like shape was walking around, a little too purposeful to make Allen comfortable, but then Cross withdrew his gun and Lavi held his hammer more tightly in his grasp, the tension fell from Allen's muscles. These people were powerful; they could hold their own against something like this.

Not that they'd have to, as there was a flash and suddenly the presence was gone.

It felt like a clock was ticking by, but it was still so quiet.

* * *

As the storm settled in later in the day, they all readied to sleep, deciding that the others wouldn't be able to invade as the storm was reaching dangerous points in the looming shadows of evening. It was intimidating with the howling winds, the sounds of ice clattering against the house, and the earth-shaking thunder that followed brilliant flashes of lightning that left Allen wincing. He could hardly sleep, but he managed to nod off for a bit, only to wake up in the middle of the night.

His eye was sore, but it wasn't throbbing with the presence of akuma, so he figured that was a plus. The winds felt like they were shaking the house, and with that and his body hurting again, Allen decided he wouldn't be able to sleep. As he sat up, he sighed and got to his feet, deciding to stretch his legs to try and remind his body that it was exhausted and needed rest.

As he came across the window, Allen's eyes flickered out into the darkness, having a strangely hard time of deciphering what he could see with the blur of water, wind, and foliage that was being tossed about, but he could make out the edge of the van by the house, the tree line in the short distance, and another vehicle he couldn't recognize.

"What the hell are you doing up?"

Allen jolted and whipped around, wincing immediately as his chest stung at the twisting motion, seeming to irritate Cross even more as he glared down at him.

Swallowing nervously at being caught, Allen licked his lips and straightened himself. "I couldn't sleep."

"Tough," Cross said as he strode forward, towering over Allen. "Go lay down so you don't hurt yourself worse than you already did."

"I'm just getting myself tired again…" Allen looked back to the window, frowning uncomfortably at the way the vehicle was stuck out there. He wondered if it was scary for whoever inside. "Would a… car like that be okay in this storm?"

Cross grimaced, glancing out the window before looking back to Allen and reaching over to thump him on the head. "Idiot, don't worry about them. They're trained killers."

Allen winced at being thumped, but then turned to scowl at Cross. "You were a general, so aren't you just like them?"

The question caught the man somewhat off-guard, if his slightly widened eye was anything to go by, but then it twisted into a sneer. "Don't get snarky just because you learned a few things. I was considered a unit, but I didn't undergo training like the ones you've seen. That doesn't mean I couldn't kill any akuma I found; only the best and the too stubborn to die could become generals."

"Way to pat yourself on the back," Allen muttered, only to get thumped again. "Ow!"

"Quit being an ass, you couldn't land a punch on me even if you tried."

Scowling at being taunted, Allen immediately took a swing at Cross's chest, figuring he'd be able to land a hit by being so close to him, but before he could get close, Cross snatched his wrist and sharply twisted it back, Allen's knees buckling immediately with a pained whine.

Not releasing his hold, Cross merely looked down at Allen and snorted. "Thought I was kidding, huh? Don't hurry to get up." Ignoring Allen's raspy apologies and begging to be released, Cross only continued speaking. "Actually, I've been meaning to ask; why the hell did you hunt that creepy thing down? Didn't we all tell you to wake us up before you ran off like that?"

Once his question was over, Cross released Allen's wrist, allowing him to catch his breath that he didn't know was lost. As he tucked his hand against the uninjured part of his torso, Allen finally registered the question and glanced up at Cross, only to avert his eyes as he felt the guilt creep up on him. On hindsight, it was ridiculously stupid, and entirely on impulse that he did it. After thinking about his answer for a moment, Allen wrinkled his nose and looked away.

"I felt it calling me, but it wasn't an akuma, so I thought I'd just…" he trailed off, already knowing his argument was a losing one.

His defeated tone seemed to ring strongly with Cross, but he still didn't look pleased. "Did it call you like the akuma do?"

"No," Allen answered dully, "just… in my chest… it felt weird and it didn't feel dangerous at the time. It felt _good_ to follow it, but when I saw it, suddenly it didn't…"

Cross didn't answer right away, but after a few skeptical moments, Cross sighed and crossed his arms. "Alright… but you know I'll have to be stricter with you since you decided to fuck off without listening to us, right?"

Allen frowned unhappily but nodded. "Right…"

The man gave a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "I thought I'd wait until you adjusted to being a living human being before doing this, but I guess I have no choice. Allen, do you know what a general was supposed to do?"

"Kill akuma?" Allen guessed quietly, and Cross shook his head.

"Units, including generals, kill akuma, but generals are supposed to be in charge of teaching the new units how to be efficient soldiers. We're the ones that survived to become the strongest while having enough sense of mind to teach others how to be the same." Cross gave another scoff, his eye glaring out the window. "I've never done it because it's bullshit. All units end up dying in some stupid-ass way, so why even bother? But…" his expression somehow tightened, like the topic was difficult to talk around, "your options are limited, and if we want you to stay alive, you have to be trained so you can keep up with the rest of us and hold your own."

Allen could only stare, his eyes large as he remembered where he'd heard this before. Subconsciously, he glanced over to Lavi and Bookman, fast asleep, but then he returned his attention to Cross.

"So… you'll be my general? Like Bookman is Lavi's?"

Surprisingly, Cross only looked baffled. "No, Bookman _raised_ Lavi. There's a reason Lavi doesn't refer to him as 'master' or anything similar." Cross's eye narrowed. "Where'd you think Bookman was a general?"

"I… overheard you and Bookman talking… at the church," Allen said quietly, "you said that I was going to be your apprentice after Bookman said he did the same with Lavi."

Expecting a loud answer, Allen was only met by a quiet, thoughtful stare from Cross as he studied Allen closely. "You heard that?"

Allen shrunk back further, tensing his shoulders. "Y-Yes…"

An exasperated groan fell from Cross's mouth as he rubbed under his glasses. "Ah, dammit… you're nosey as shit."

"H-Hey!"

"Now," Cross hardened his stare, dropping his hand to his side, "if you actually want to be my apprentice, you better be prepared. I'm not going to go easy on you just because you're so pathetic looking and scrawny."

A frown immediately pulled at Allen's mouth, straightening himself and stepping away from Cross. "I'm not sure if I want to be your apprentice anymore…"

Another sneer appeared on Cross's face, and he gave a sadistic snicker. "Too bad, you already signed yourself up when you decided to be a dumbass. I'm now your master, so you better suck it up if you wanna go anywhere with it, especially if you don't wanna get killed."

Immediately shuddering, it only intensified when a flash filled the house, thundering almost at the same time and booming through Allen's body. His voice hitched, legs shaking in warning, but then Cross caught his arm and yanked him back towards his bed.

"Get back to sleep before you give yourself a concussion," Cross's voice was terse and sharp, making Allen tense, but he followed nonetheless without complaint, even as the man all but shoved him down onto the blanket. "Work on healing faster; we need to get out of here as soon as possible."

"You're both annoyingly loud," Bookman complained, drawing both Allen and Cross's attention.

Allen's eyes were wide when he spotted Bookman sitting up in the corner. "Oh! S-Sorry, Bookman…"

"Eh," Bookman waved him off before glaring at the window. "It's not like I could sleep, anyway."

"Come up a plan for leaving yet?" Cross grumbled, "Or are you going to be silent again and leave it to me?"

"Don't sass me, you overgrown fire hydrant," Bookman immediately snapped back, igniting a rage within Cross that was palpable. Feeling the heat coming from him, Bookman scrunched up his face at him, "What? Gonna hit an old man, Marian?"

"I really want to," Cross rumbled, fists trembling at his sides that sent Allen scooting away from him.

Scoffing, Bookman jerked his head away, fiddling with his needles that Allen just noticed were in his fingers. "Too bad. And I suggest that we leave in the morning."

Cross made a noise of confusion. "What? Didn't you say that Allen's not good enough to move yet?"

"Yes, the medicine still needs time to work, but you don't have to leave," Bookman looked up at him again, "Me and junior will leave and lure the units away, and you can do whatever you want." Bookman's eyes were all-knowing, and Allen felt nervous just looking at them. "Don't you like being alone anyway? Keeps things from going too wrong for you?"

There was a pained realization on Cross's face that Allen couldn't place nor understand, particularly as Cross looked away bitterly, teeth glinting in the slight light when his lip curled back. When he finally relaxed again, his expression was empty of anything but a shadow of something heavy and lingering.

"Fine. Then, in the morning, we'll make sure you two get away safely, and that they don't notice us being left behind. Just get out of here."

Lavi stirred suddenly, still fast asleep in his own spot, drawing all of their eyes before Bookman sighed.

"Ugh, he's going to complain about this the whole time we're gone…"

Cross raised an eyebrow. "Why? Like hell he actually got attached to this useless kid."

Allen winced and frowned, glancing to Lavi warily.

Bookman only snorted again. "Are you kidding? You didn't notice how clingy he was?"

Cross only gave a moment's thought before he gave a chuff. "He's always clingy. And he can cry about it later." As he turned his face to Allen, Cross glowered again, "And will you just lay down?! Jesus, you act like this is a slumber party."

Allen stared blankly at him. "What's a slumber party?"

"Get the fuck to sleep!"


	8. Chapter 8

When morning came, Allen was left to sleep longer than normal, but it didn't matter since Cross's movements amidst the still present storm woke him up anyway. Cross managed to sneak out to the van to grab a few things, and as he reentered the house his eye clashed with Allen's, keeping Allen in place without a word before he continued whatever it was he was doing.

Allen sighed and slumped against the barely padded blanket beneath him, realizing they would need to find a new one for him, not wanting to take anything from Bookman and Lavi. He'd also need clothes and other things, and Allen had no clue where they'd find them when he only saw vacant ruins wherever they went. The only other life he knew about were the other units chasing them, and even then, it was debatable if they even counted.

Bookman woke next, his hair a hilarious mess as it always was in the mornings. Lavi was the only one still asleep, a tangled mess in his blanket. Allen guessed they had about an hour before he woke, even less if they were loud, so Allen tried to keep quiet.

Of course, the silence didn't last long before the storm regained its strength, thunder cracking above the house and causing the windowpanes to clatter. Lavi slowly turned over, stretching an arm above his head, and then he blearily blinked his eye open before he slowly sat up, ruffling his hair as he shot Allen a warm smile.

"Hey, it's still morning, right?" Lavi said groggily, humor painting his words messily, "Why'd no one wake me up?"

"It's not like you have much to pack," Cross scoffed as he sat himself down on the floor, "all of your shit's still in the van, so we didn't need to wake you."

The serious response left Lavi staring, snapping out of his joking mood and instead working his mind out of its groggy mindset. "Wait, but we're not leaving yet? Allen's still risky to move when we have units out there, not to mention the storm…"

"We're splitting up," Bookman spoke up, affixing Lavi with a firm eye.

As expected, Lavi was fully awake with those three words, and he scrambled to his feet, tripping over his blanket as he rushed to Bookman, looking downright panicked. "What?! But… Bookman, why?!"

"Calm down," Bookman flicked him, which unexpectedly left Lavi toppling to the ground, "Allen's injured, yes, but a larger group will only attract more attention. You and I will take the van and do as we've always done. Cross will take Allen and mentor him."

"Wait, so _Cross_ is going to raise him?" Lavi's voice turned sharp, and it made Allen frown somewhat, Cross fully giving him a scowl.

"Mentor, not raise," Cross corrected sharply. "You remember that it was my job, right?"

"Not like you ever did it," Lavi muttered, turning to fix Cross with a hesitant glare.

Bookman's voice was loud and annoyed, "It's true, it was part of Cross's job but he never actually did it. Allen doesn't have any Innocence, but he _is_ a specialized unit, and if he doesn't receive the proper training, he'll either hurt himself or others by accident, or get captured and trained by the Order anyway. Cross is the only one who can teach him how to survive out here with his specifications."

Still looking like he was struggling with the terms, Lavi was paused for a moment, the ends of his fingers twitching in thought before he straightened himself more, looking back and forth between invisible options in his mind.

It took a few moments, but then Lavi spoke, his voice flat and apathetic, "So, we leave them here and that's it?"

Bookman nodded, and Lavi snorted and got up, walking with startling poise and disappearing into the depths of the house, Allen staring after him.

He didn't know how startled he looked until Cross called him out. "What? Did he scare you?"

Allen frowned before turning away from them, preferring instead to face the wall and some of the large windows so he could watch the trees outside be whipped by the wind. "No… I…" his mind reeled, and suddenly restless he pushed himself up, quietly stepping around the two older men before he tiptoed down another hallway in the house. "I'll be back…"

"Pah, both of them are too sensitive…" Allen heard Cross say as he left the room, Bookman's voice not amused as he replied.

"Yours has an excuse. Mine does not."

Purposefully blocking them out, Allen continued into the house, to what seemed to be a small room that had larger windows and a door that was lopsided, the hinges bent and no doubt unable to open any longer. The house was completely deserted, but there were squares on the wall's surface that were lighter than the whole, and marks on the floor where something large used to sit.

With clues given to him, the collar's residue provided the pieces to fill them; photographs or paintings, then maybe a table, Allen using his imagination to clear the dirt from his surroundings and lighten the colors of the room. He couldn't put anything more to the image, but it was already something he wished he could see; a simple house free of the chaos that seemed to be spiraling out of control around him.

The storm outside howled as though to emphasize that chaos, but as Allen turned his eyes to the windows, the image flickered in front of him, blotching and spreading across his entire field of vision like a cigarette burn on a greeting card, though the origin of such visuals were lost on him.

The bluish-grey tones suddenly cycled through to gold and white, the window frames rich and dark rather than faded and chipped. The glass cleared, overlooking a field that swayed and moved like water, but there was a tree in the center, dark and twisted, a single point within the field before it all faded into an endless sea of gold.

The breath caught in Allen's throat, eyes wide as the colors reflected in his eyes. He took a step forward, no creak under his bare feet, but rather a distant melody that trickled through the open doorway behind him. He turned his head to look, the walls covered in pictures of several people, all smiling gently with a few baring excited, toothy grins. The faces were blurred, immediately forgotten as soon as Allen turned his eyes away, and his throat constricted tighter as he suddenly felt overwhelmed.

"What, did you get lost?"

Allen jumped, startled, and he turned, immediately recognizing that voice, and he opened his mouth to respond until he realized that the name on his tongue felt strange, different, alien, and as his eyes found the subject of his attention, he found them twisted, distorted, as though standing behind a wall of water.

The figure reached forward, and as Allen simultaneously tried to back away and lean towards it, the person gripped his shoulder. The illusion was shattered with a dull flash of light, everything falling away to reveal what was there before. Lavi's face became clear, eye wide and concerned, and as the pieces of gold and deep, dark browns fell away, Allen remembered how to breathe, and stared at Lavi thoughtlessly.

"What… what just…"

Lavi's lips pursed, and he tilted his head by just a tad, urging Allen to explain further, but Allen could only stare.

Whose name was he about to call?

Without the answer to his question, it suddenly felt as if a voice had been echoing in the back of his mind, and he grimaced as he looked to the floor. Lavi, in response, blinked, and then boldly yet hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around Allen, pulling him close and giving him something to latch onto. He was solid and warm, the motion of his breathing and the minor shifts in his grip fully bringing Allen out of the dream, but the images still shone brightly in his mind, the sea of gold and the lonesome tree, the cozy house that was adoringly cared for.

"Allen?" Lavi's voice was quiet and thoughtful, and Allen held on to it, "Are you okay?"

Unsure what Lavi meant, Allen gave a nod anyway. "Y-Yeah… did you see that?"

Slowly, Lavi pulled away, his stare straining as it locked onto Allen, searching his face and eyes. "See what?"

"The…" Allen turned to point out the window, only to be greeted by the wall of rain that was coming down at an angle, the blurry mess of trees on the other side of a dirty and smudged window, and Allen dropped his hand, "the… I saw…"

"An akuma?" Lavi offered, leaning over to look at Allen's face more directly.

Unwavering in his gaze, Allen shook his head, and with a soft breath, he turned back to Lavi as his shoulders dipped. "No… I just… I was just looking around and the house suddenly got… nicer…"

Lavi's face immediately scrunched up with confusion, and Allen cursed himself for not knowing how to explain it, grimacing worse as he turned his eyes back to the wall, trying to will the image to return, as though it would show it to someone else.

"The walls… they… got cleaner, and outside there was gold, and a tree…" his throat tightened again, and Allen hesitated, "and when you called to me I thought you were someone else but… I don't understand…"

It was quiet despite the storm, and as the seconds ticked by gruesomely slowly, Allen felt the need to look at Lavi, who was staring at him thoughtfully, his eye focusing on nothing as he seemed to be looking over options, his head just barely tilting or turning to 'see' them. Lavi retrieved one hand and covered his mouth with the back of it as though to help him think. He was like that for a while, and then he quietly spoke.

"Allen, maybe you aren't _just_ a bred-unit…" Lavi said, almost as though he was informing himself, as well.

The words weighed heavily in the air, but Allen felt like he couldn't see or touch them, only staring at Lavi in confusion. "I'm… not?"

As though spurred on, Lavi opened his mouth to explain, but then hesitated, pulling back and fully releasing Allen as he looked away, grimacing. "I… don't know. To be honest, Bookman and Cross didn't tell me a lot about units or how they work. They worked with them but… even when I'm a bookman in training, they don't tell me beyond the bare bones. You'd have to ask Cross or Bookman, but… no promises they'll tell you."

Slumping at the news, Allen whined softly and tipped to the side, managing to catch himself before he fully toppled over. "Why do I have to be so weird…"

"If you start saying that _now_ then you're hopeless," Lavi gave a dry chuckle, his smile strained, "I mean, c'mon, you're like what… ooh, four days old?"

"I lost track," Allen grumbled, and Lavi laughed, more easily this time. "What? Does Mr. Know-it-all remember?"

Fully accepting the provocation, Lavi beamed. "You are, as a matter of fact, five days old!"

Finally smirking, Allen lightly shoved Lavi back, the older boy laughing a little harder before he threw his arm around Allen's shoulders again, giving him a brief squeeze before he reached up with his other hand and shoved his knuckles through Allen's beanie, rubbing harshly as Allen gave a shout and tried to pull away, his only hand scrambling against Lavi's shoulders to get him to loosen his grip.

"Too bad you don't have a head full of hair to protect you!" Lavi cackled, Allen's hand finding its way to shoving against Lavi's face to get him to stop his assault.

As both derailed into quiet laughter, Lavi stopped grinding into Allen's head and instead pulled him into a loose, one-armed hug, slowly becoming quiet. Lavi's warmth was welcoming, and Allen found himself returning the hug hesitantly, fingers knotting themselves in Lavi's shirt and resting his forehead against his shoulder. After a moment, Lavi's other arm pulled Allen even closer, embracing him almost to the point of almost suffocation.

"Lavi?" Allen squeaked out, unsure if he should be struggling with how tightly Lavi was choking him. "Lavi, what's wrong? What are you doing?"

He thought he heard Lavi's heartbeat slow, even despite Lavi's carefree voice. "Hugging you, Allen. You know what that is, right?"

It took a moment, but then Allen relaxed, resting his head against Lavi's shoulder as he gave a nod, his voice dropping to a put-out huff. "Yes… I know what a hug is…"

"Good…" Lavi sucked in a breath, "Say, Allen… sometimes Cross and Bookman meet up every few months… compare notes and all… so make sure you keep up with the guy so we can see each other, 'kay?"

His lips twitching, Allen finally broke into a small laugh. "Yeah, okay. I'll make sure to keep up."

As Lavi pulled away, he directed Allen's face to look at him, eyes large and expectant, but then Lavi's fingers found Allen's cheeks and pinched, tugging at them. "Good! Because I wanna see if your baby-face gets any better!"

Lavi released Allen's face and ran just as Allen gave a scream and chased after him to fight him, though as they barreled into the living room, they came to a stop at the sight of Bookman putting on a coat, a few bags on the floor and the blankets that were out now missing.

All sense of joy vanished from the air, and Allen held his breath, looking between them. His throat and chest were tight, and as he glanced over to Lavi, he didn't see him breathing either.

"Lavi, get ready to leave," Bookman said apathetically, "we have maybe an hour before we risk the units rushing the house. All our things are packed; we're just waiting on you."

Almost like a switch was flipped, Lavi's shoulders squared and he smiled, all but rushing to get his shoes on and straighten up his hair. "On it, gramps! So, where we heading to once we reach the main road?"

"Towards Facility 2. We can disappear there," Bookman answered easily.

Cross gestured for Allen to walk over, and once Allen did, Cross shoved some clothes onto him, gesturing for him to get changed. The clothes were thick and warm, the pants hardy to deal with all sorts of terrain, it seemed, along with tall boots. As the others talked, Allen quickly changed into them.

"Are you sure they won't recognize the van?" Lavi asked, a smile still on his lips.

As Bookman sat to wait, he seemed to rest his eyes. "They could, but they won't. There's too many people and too many old cars to point out a single vehicle."

Immediately, Allen perked up. "People?!"

As the eyes of the others looked to him, Allen's cheeks turned pink. "I-I mean… I just… haven't seen any… actual people… doing normal things… I didn't think any existed."

Amused, Cross gave a snort. "What? You wanna see the normies? Sorry, kid, but you stick out like a pagan at mass." When Allen gave him a confused stare, Cross simply waved it off. "You need to heal up and stop looking so weird if you wanna go to town. Sorry, just how things work."

"Cross can't even go because of his mask most days," Lavi said cheerily, "which pisses him off because he wants to see all the pretty girls in town."

"Not like there're any good ones left after Lvellie…" Cross muttered under his breath, earning another confused stare from Allen.

"Lvellie?"

"Don't worry about it."

At the thrown away response, Allen scowled and looked to Lavi, who only shrugged.

"Some big guy up top in the Order. I don't know anything else," Lavi returned his attention to his boot laces.

Suddenly, something hit Allen's leg, sending him stumbling backwards. "Ow!"

"Put your goddamn shoes on," Cross growled, throwing the other boot at him.

After Allen had scrambled to catch it, he was sent a glare from Cross that put Allen on the floor to try and get them on.

It was hard, and downright impossible to tie the laces with only one hand, and once he realized that, Allen stared at them for only a moment before he got up and walked over to Cross. The man stared at him, but then Allen brought up his leg and held it in front of him.

Cross only stared at him. "What?"

"Tie my shoes," Allen answered back, feeling proud when Lavi started to snicker. "I only have one hand and I don't see how I could do it myself."

Immediately, Cross was almost gawking, and then he glowered. "We're getting you Velcro shoes," he muttered, ducking down to tie the laces of both Allen's boots. "I swear, if we don't find a solution then I'm just gonna tie them together and let you crawl everywhere."

Allen frowned at the idea, but nonetheless didn't say anything more, which seemed to be the right response as Cross merely let him be and returned to his position against the wall once he was done.

"Once we leave, you will be on your own, Cross," Bookman said, bringing the conversation back, "do you need any components before we leave?"

"No, I got all the ones I needed," Cross patted his briefcase, hidden beneath a very large black coat.

Bookman hummed. "Good, then. If you are ready, Lavi?" his dark eyes looked to the boy, who momentarily froze, hesitated, and then nodded, face void of anything but a baseline level of glee.

"Yep! Can't wait to get back to town to eat some real food."

Allen sorely wanted to ask, but he couldn't bring himself to. Seeing Lavi so happy about leaving made him bitter, but he knew it couldn't be his true feelings, something in his gut screaming it so. He didn't want to think about it too much, regardless, but he felt he understood, and as Lavi rose from his position, Allen hurried over to send them off.

They stood at the door, and Bookman strode out, Lavi all but crushing Allen in a hug that was definitely exaggerated for playfulness, but Allen returned it as best he could, squeezing until he could hear Lavi wheeze under his grip. As they released each other, they both stepped back before Lavi turned and hopped towards the van, climbing inside and rolling down the window.

"Hey, when we meet up again maybe we'll see what your hair looks like! Better hope you grow any!" Lavi grinned, and Allen paled.

"Rude!" Allen yelled after him, devolving into laughter, but then Cross took his shoulder and pulled him back into the house.

They shared a small wave, and then Cross shut the door. The van started up and it pulled from the pocket of the house's driveway and onto the road, the engine rumbling loudly as it drove along.

Rain pattered softly, more like a mist than an actual storm, the wind all but gone. Above it all, thunder still lingered distantly, an echoing reminder or a quiet threat for the future.

Allen stared after the lights in the van for a while until they disappeared, Cross moving deeper inside the house. His movements were silent compared to the engine that snarled to life across the street, startling Allen as he didn't notice it from behind the plants that had either been purposeful camouflage or an accident brought in by the storm. The lights turned on, bathing the streets around their course in even deeper shadows, and then the car pulled from the side of the road, pursuing the van.

Staring after that vehicle, Allen only just chanced to whisper, "Are they really going to be fine?"

Cross gave a confident guffaw, "Of course! Bookmen are as slippery as eels; they'll be fine. Worry about your own skin."

Looking over at him, Allen gave a disapproving frown. "And what about you?"

"Again, worry about yourself," Cross stretched, then reached to gather his coat, throwing it over the backs of his shoulders and doing the clasps in the front. It made him look even more large and menacing, if that was even possible. "If I'm in trouble, what makes you think you can do anything about it? Save your own hide like you're _not_ a dumbass."

"Do you always get offensive when you're cranky?" Allen asked, immediately regretting asking when Cross gave him a horrible glare.

"Don't sass me, brat. I have half a mind to not cripple you even further, but that's still only _half_."

Making a mental note not to sass Cross when he's cranky, Allen nodded, turning his gaze away.

"Ugh," Cross wrinkled his nose, "and don't pout. It's awful."

Heat tinged Allen's cheeks, and he tensed up. "What?! I'm not pouting!"

"Are you shitting me? You couldn't pout more even if you puffed up your cheeks!"

"I'm not pouting!"

A loud crash from outside froze both of them, whipping their heads in the direction of the sound, though as they saw nothing but a gate outside swinging and tapping the latch, they relaxed, but only slightly.

Cross shoved a piece of fabric into Allen's arms, and as he jumped and held it more closely, he saw it was a coat.

"Put that on and we'll get going," Cross murmured, much quieter than he was only a moment before, "don't get lost."

"W-Wait!" Allen called out, Cross begrudgingly stopping and half-turning to look at him. "Didn't Bookman say I couldn't move yet? Where are we going?"

Cross gave a snort. "We're not going far. This place," he pointed up at the large splotches in the ceiling, "isn't safe. Disregarding the structure, this place is probably full of mold. Plus, the Order's gonna just come back. There's a place nearby, and as long as you're not too clumsy, you should be fine on the trip."

Still unsure over which adult was safer to listen to, Allen had no choice but to nod.

Staring at the man as he turned and headed deeper into the house, Allen swallowed and put the coat on, feeling its texture with his fingers and deciding that it was pleasant to the touch. Collecting himself with a breath, Allen looked up and started after Cross. His footsteps were louder than Cross's as they echoed through the floorboards, and he wondered what sort of things Cross had to do to become so quiet.

In the room where the fields of gold and that lonesome tree showed itself, Cross was standing, looking out the windows. For a moment, Allen's heart raced, willing to believe that Cross had, and _was_ seeing it. As he rushed forward, though, Cross shot him a glare.

"Stop tromping around! Learn to quiet yourself!" Cross snapped, and though his voice was hushed, it still carried a threatening tone that left Allen withering.

Cross turned towards the jammed door, and with a harsh kick he slammed it open, one of its hinges being destroyed completely and leaving the door swinging on an angle. He held no reserves as he marched down the steps outside, leaving Allen to chase after him.

The wet grass trailed their knees, and Allen was quick to bring his hood over his head, the beanie from Lavi still keeping him warm. Ahead, Cross merely swung a large hat from his waist up onto his head, effectively blocking the rain from his face and hair. His back was dark, and he became almost like an ominous shadow as they entered the tree line, his broad shoulders creating an imposing form to be moving between the lithe trees.

Taking careful care not to agitate his chest, Allen followed obediently, and it took twenty minutes before he could tear his eyes away from Cross's shoulders.

* * *

 **AN: I'm actually surprised I've more-or-less stayed on schedule so far! Unfortunately, I may need to drop that schedule since I have other things I'd like to work on (including working on the later chapters of this), and with school coming up, I want to have that pressure a little lessened. This will still update every so often when I feel the guilt creeping up on me, but in the meantime I hope to get even more things done!**

 **Thank you all so much for keeping up with this up to this point, and I hope you're excited for what comes next!**


	9. Chapter 9

Even at the brightest moment in the day, it was still uneasily dim. The forest was full of gloomy fog that obscured the far-off trees, and even the closest trunks were obscured into shapes free of texture. The uneven ground was full of fallen leaves and branches, every step disturbing the off-putting silence. Chitters seemed to come from nothing in sudden bursts, and as Allen kept his eyes peeled, he couldn't stop feeling nervous at the absence of activity. Even with Cross never reacting to their surroundings, Allen still felt anxious as he felt like he was the only one watching their surroundings.

Allen didn't know how long they had been walking, but his footsteps were getting heavier, his desire to stay quiet falling behind his desire to find someplace to rest. It was getting tiring to even react to the random noises he heard, but it only fed into Allen's anxieties as he found it difficult to pay attention to what could be important cues or warnings.

Finally, as his feet were scuffing the ground more than they were lifting over the damp soil, Allen opened his mouth to speak, only to be silenced by a sharp jab of pain that racked through the left side of his face. His voice choked back as he winced, covering the left half of his face with his hand as he fought back a groan of pain.

"A-Akuma," he just made out, but Cross was already moving, throwing out his arm in time with several ear-piercing shots that slammed into Allen in a way that almost felt physical.

Cross was barely looking where he was firing, Allen noticed before he jerked his head around to see what Cross shot at, seeing a lopsided, indistinguishable figure topple to the ground. Even from the distance, Allen could see some plants curl as they quickly decayed, and he stared at the scene before his left eye flared up again.

Allen turned to face the source, Cross following his lead and whirled his gun in its direction, shooting three times and knocking three distant akuma down.

As though breaking through a barrier, the akuma were suddenly swarming, Allen's left eye burning like there was a hot coal in his skull and Cross shooting them down before they could get too close. The blasts were painful, and Allen tried to cover his ears with his hand and shoulder, caught in trying to locate every oncoming akuma that seemed to burst into the vicinity of his awareness before they were killed. As the woods were filled with corpses, the trees were blackened, branches twisting and growing limp, but then the wave finally stopped.

It took a few moments before Allen realized it, but then as he pulled everything away from his ears, he found the forest eerily silent. He turned to Cross, seeing his gun smoking, pointed towards the sky before he shakily returned it to his holster.

"Be sure to tell me if more come out," Cross muttered.

Allen shakily nodded, abandoning his previous question as it definitely wasn't safe out here. "Okay, Cross…"

"Hey, normally a unit refers to their general as 'master' or 'teacher', so pick one," Cross said sternly, halfway turning around just to tug Allen forward by his hood before releasing him. He started walking ahead, trusting Allen to keep up, and he scrambled to be just behind him.

He had to carefully step over a small pile of melting akuma, wrinkling his nose as it smelled moldy and rotten already, the plants shriveling more than Allen previously thought they were. Allen almost hesitated as he couldn't look away from the strange way the bodies eroded, but then Cross snagged his arm and yanked him forward, not releasing him even as they got past the largest pile of akuma.

"Don't stay close to that; your body has no Innocence in it so you'll melt just like the plants. This whole area will be dead within an hour, so we want to get out of here before the Order shows up to clean it up. They can't have their whole world be a toxic wasteland when they could use it."

Listening intently, Allen nodded vigorously. It took a while until Cross released his arm, taking to rummaging through his coat before he withdrew a bundle of white roots, Allen remembering Cross taking it from the unit's corpse back in the city. Allen's sucked in a breath and readied to ask what he was doing until Cross brought out his revolver again, pulling out the cylinder to reveal all of the openings for bullets. As Cross held up the Innocence to the revolver, the roots moved as though drawn to the cylinder, splitting to fill every empty chamber and then breaking off.

With the chamber filled, Cross replaced both items on his person, and Allen pulled his eyes away to prevent thinking too hard about it. Cross never slowed his pace, leaving the akuma and their poison behind as the foliage grew closer and closer together.

Rain sprinkled from the clouds above their heads, pattering their coats and the plants around them, washing away the scent of death that was already fading quickly. The sounds of birds slowly returned, few and far between in their calls, the thick layer of leaves on the ground providing distraction for Allen as he tried to muffle his footsteps through it. It let his mind go empty, the peaceful environment much more comforting after the battle with the akuma released all of his anxieties in one go.

Even with the peaceful forest and Allen's left eye finally feeling like a positive thing, his feet started scuffing the ground again, the fatigue catching up with him along with an odd sense of restlessness. The weather was making it harder to walk as it was, but with his heavy limbs, Allen was regretting not arguing with Cross about leaving the house when he had the chance.

His eyes were trained on the backs of Cross's ankles, but when the man sharply stopped, Allen startled and snapped his eyes up just in time to see Cross reach back and grab him, pulling both of them behind a tree. His grip on Allen didn't relax, and Allen instinctively ducked down to hide, eyes searching for whatever it was that Cross saw.

After a few moments, he saw a line of people in long coats pass through on what he realized to be a game trail, some of them wearing bulky items on their backs. The first few people were ordinary until a much bulkier man marched out with more strength and presence than the others, his shoulders circled by spiked rings the color of blood and bone. His wideness itself was intimidating, and Allen pushed back against Cross to avoid being noticed, even though Cross would be easier to spot with his strange mask and virulent red hair.

One of the men in front stumbled as the feathers jutting out of his pantlegs quivered and writhed, and he hit the ground with barely a sound. The man with the spiked rings automatically marched towards him, his teeth shining in a snarl in the shade of his hood before he roughly kicked the man up.

"Get up! This is the third time you've done this shit, and If you can't handle your Innocence then don't bother getting up, or even better, don't fucking come in the first place!"

The harsh voice and violent action seemed to propel the unit to their feet, stumbling forward as their feathers still quivered. Allen's jaw was slack, his blood cold, but then the line of people continued on and disappeared, though Cross kept them there for several minutes until he apparently deemed it safe and stood up. He gave a groan as his body was apparently stiff, but then took long steps through the long, yellowing grass.

Allen slowly followed him, and as they crossed into the trail, he spared a small glance down the path. Cross was almost through the trees at the other side, but Allen froze him with his question.

"Cr-… Master, what was that?"

"General Socalo," Cross answered bluntly. "Guy's an asshole and he loves killing akuma, doesn't have the patience for anything that gets in the way of it. Won't turn down a fight with anyone, either."

Frowning, Allen finally started following Cross again. "Did you two get along?"

He heard Cross give an amused scoff, like it was something he hadn't thought about in a long time. "Sometimes we did. We generals are a funny breed."

"What about the others?" Allen asked, eager to find a distraction. "I found a book in the facility and Lavi said there was a General Klaud? And then, um…" Allen wrinkled his nose, "Su…Suman Dark?"

Unexpectedly, Cross stopped and looked over his shoulder with a tired stare full of self-suffering. "You're going to be a nightmare with these questions, aren't you?"

Unrelenting, Allen sat up straighter. "So did you know them?"

"Klaud, yes. Suman, no," Cross muttered. "Klaud's a fierce woman; she used to train animals for a living before she was recruited. Makes sense for her to become a general." He suddenly glared at Allen, "And she became a general after I left, so don't ask about that."

As he stormed ahead, Allen scrambled to keep up with him, a larger smile on his face as he kept his eyes on the visible side of Cross's face. "What does she look like?"

"Blonde, X-shaped scar on her face and it wasn't that that made her threatening."

"So," Allen tilted his head, "she looks like you but as a blonde woman?"

Cross sent him a burning glare. "Don't taunt me, I'll pistol-whip you."

Allen didn't doubt it, but he couldn't help but keep smiling simply because of the topic of conversation. To avoid the threat becoming true, he carefully picked his next words. "To be honest, I don't really know what a woman looks like except for that one girl that tried to kill me."

The words sent Cross stopping mid-stride, turning towards Allen to stare at him, almost in disbelief. After a moment, he recovered enough to march off again, grumbling under his breath, "Goddammit… the moment you look less recognizable and obvious I'm going to have to take you to a few places…"

"What places?" Allen asked, being forced to quicken his stride with Cross's almost fleeing pace.

"You're too young to find out," Cross answered, making Allen scrunch up his face in confusion.

Unhappy with that answer, Allen frowned and tried to get in front of Cross to demand an explanation, not wanting to be left in the dark when he didn't have anyone to suffer with him like Lavi, but just as he got in front of Cross, he felt his feet slip out from under him, and suddenly the world was spinning as he fell. After several tumbles, his back slammed the ground, a loud groan of pain leaving him as his head spun, unsure what just happened.

Cross stepped into view just as everything stopped spinning, upside down and staring at Allen like he was an idiot.

"Watch out for mud, it's been raining," Cross said, and Allen gawked at the realization that he had just _slipped_.

His cheeks burned, Cross not bothering to tease him as he held out his hand, helping Allen up before hurriedly brushing off his black gloves against his coat. Allen started after him again until he grimaced at the weight and tackiness of his clothes, awkwardly trying to brush the mud off of him until he couldn't take the way it felt on his fingers.

As he had to make up the distance that grew between he and Cross, though, Allen winced as his chest was aching again, pressing his hand weakly over the wound while paying more attention to where he was walking.

There was a strange sound echoing through the trees, and when Allen finally noticed it, it was shockingly loud, making him wonder how he ignored it for so long. It was like a distant roar, one without deviation or end in the sound, and Allen looked up to Cross to see if he was nervous, too, only to see past him and see a road that seemed to be made entirely of water. Allen found himself freezing, Cross looking back at him when he noticed the lack of footsteps.

"You coming?"

Allen startled and nodded, hurrying forward until the back of his coat was snatched by Cross, holding him back as Cross scrutinized him.

"What? Does your chest hurt again?"

The question was almost an accusation, and Allen quickly averted his eyes. "When I fell, I think I bumped it," he murmured quietly before quickly adding on, "I-I'm okay, though! Just sore!"

Cross only hummed in a way that didn't sound convinced, but he released Allen and began following the river. He didn't pursue the topic of Allen's injury, and Allen held back from speaking until his eye throbbed. He winced, and looking up, he saw a structure in the distance alongside the river, a wooden dock reaching into the rushing water.

Before they got too close, Allen called out, "Cr…Master, there's akuma."

"Huh," Cross just said, retrieving his revolver. "Well, we're right by the Clan's territory; figures there'd be more akuma here. Stay back so you don't get killed."

Allen glanced between Cross and the house, taking a few steps back. "Okay… I think the akuma are inside the house."

Cross gave a nod before he took several steps forward. As he held up the revolver, he spun the cylinder, creating a loud rattle that was quickly overshadowed by an ungodly wail that caused the house and Allen's body to shudder.

He stumbled back, his body robotically positioning itself for defense without wanting to just in time to see several akuma drag themselves out of the already broken windows. Their joints almost looked broken as they moved, causing Allen's skin to crawl and erasing all ideas but fleeing from his mind, especially as his eyes found the ghosts above their bodies, murmuring words that were ground to nothing by the roar of the river and the broken sounds of the akuma's joints cracking and creaking.

As though the akuma were on a trigger, as soon as one lunged, they all did, Allen's heart jumping to his throat before gunfire thundered through the air. The shots seemed to spur the akuma out faster like an angry swarm of hornets, each screeching and coming after Cross only to be felled. They crawled over the corpses of the other akuma, not caring for how their limbs melted when they touched the bodies beneath them.

The smarter akuma arched and tried to shield themselves in the trees, but their distant shrieks made it clear that that didn't save them. None of the akuma made it close to Cross or Allen, and by the time Allen's left eye stopped burning, the revolver was smoking again, Cross's hand quivering to the point that Allen wondered how he was shooting so accurately and if he had somehow been hurt. He glanced back to Allen to check if there were still akuma, and seeing Allen shake his head, he habitually replaced the revolver in his holster. There wasn't any flair to it, despite what Allen may expect from Cross, especially after a show like that, but then he gestured for Allen to get closer.

"Hold your breath when we go in," he said, and Allen nodded vigorously, his nerves on fire.

Cross found the door to the house, requiring no effort to open it, though as soon as they stepped inside, Allen didn't think he'd be breathing anyway.

The house was small, single-level, and had an open living space that was connected to the kitchen, a single hallway flowing into the back of the house. The windows were large and broken, revealing the river outside and offering enough light to cause the blood-soaked floors to have their own disgusting sheen. There were indistinguishable objects laying around the house, many with bones jutting out of them or with torn pieces of clothing, many of them tucked into the corner of the kitchen like the akuma remembered what a kitchen was for and were using it accordingly.

The air itself felt tangible with the stench of death, Allen feeling it touching him on all sides and making his legs poise to flee from the house, only locked in place from the sheer carnage of the entire house. Cross walked through it almost like it didn't bother him, having nothing but a disgusted twist in his expression as he examined the house.

"Go sit down, I'll handle this," he said, voice seeming to be straining and his tone carrying the impression that he was ready to leave at any moment.

Giving an unsure nod, Allen stiffly walked to the nearest and cleanest corner, not willing to sit down and merely standing as close to the wall as possible. His eyes locked only onto Cross, trying to ignore all of the blood and the way his lungs were starting to constrict and beg for air.

As Allen watched, Cross seemed to be talking to himself, his lips moving without any sound as he stood motionlessly at the center of the room. Allen didn't know what he was doing, but then noticed something changing in the room.

In the corner, the bodies were seeming to decompose rapidly, eroding away to nothing at all, as well as the blood on the floorboards, leaving indentations in their wake. When it was all gone, the room was simply left in disarray, and Cross turned with an unhappy scowl and marched towards the door.

"I'm cleaning up the rest of it. Stay here."

Just as Cross stepped outside, Allen's knees gave out and he hit the floor, roughly sucking in a gasp of air only to smell the horrific stench of death. He shuddered and covered the lower half of his face as he hunched over, his stomach turning violently as he tasted acid on the back of his tongue. His body urged to cough, but Allen refused, instead squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to bypass the smell to try and breathe normally to appease his straining lungs.

It was hard to think, his mind unable to erase the picture of how much blood was soaked into the floors, the body parts, feeling like there were insects crawling under his skin and making him shudder uncontrollably. He knotted his fingers in the front of his coat, fighting off a coughing fit that soon ripped his hand from his face just so he could breathe, but only returning the taste of acid to his mouth as painful, sputtering wheezes racked his entire body.

Allen didn't notice when Cross came back until he was at his side, his hand firmly planting itself on the center of Allen's back, the weight somehow soothing though Allen didn't understand why it was there. He felt tears in his eyes, Cross's presence almost spurring on his willingness to panic.

Just as his coughing stopped and his shaking slowed, Cross asked him what happened, and when Allen looked up, everything but the center of his vision was blurry, only able to focus on Cross's face, though it didn't feel real. Everything around him was murky and grey, a different chill crawling up his arms and his neck.

He didn't know he was staring only Cross weakly smacked his face, and suddenly the world was clear again, the browns and dingy creams of the house lightening up as Allen struggled to comprehend it.

"What _happened_?" Cross repeated, his voice guttural, and Allen's eyes flitted away from him.

"I… don't know…" he said weakly, his shoulders bunching up. "I'm… it's… kind of scary…"

Cross's stern expression softened some, and he gave a sigh before his hand on Allen's back raised to just beneath the back of his neck. "Yeah, it's a real nightmare out here. But, it's the norm of it all, so you can't let it get to you so easily. They've all been dead longer than you've been alive."

It was a pathetic attempt at being comforting, but Allen took it for what it was, giving a stiff nod. "Right…"

"And," Cross sighed, "even though we're not part of the Order, we owe it to ourselves and everyone else to kill as many akuma as we can. Even the shit that happens to us can't haunt us for too long or it'll be the death of us."

Allen nodded again, but then Cross pinched his left cheek, ignoring Allen's yelp and struggling.

"Also, you have that eye of yours to help with this sort of shit. Use it to save us and save those ghosts that only you can see."

Allen nodded vigorously until Cross released him, rubbing his throbbing cheek while Cross remained where he was.

"So, what specifically scared you?"

"The…" Allen started, but he had to clamp his mouth shut. As he curled up tighter, he gave a soft groan. "I feel sick… it smells really bad in here…"

Expecting to hear Cross scold him for something, instead, Cross sighed, and he lightly patted Allen's back, a little awkwardly but still appreciated. "Yeah, it does. It'll air out soon enough with all these broken windows. Just deal with it for a little longer."

Remembering what just happened, Allen looked up at Cross and frowned. "How did you do that?"

"What, when I cleaned it all up?" Cross guessed, "It was a spell, something my family was always good at. I don't know why that one works on akuma, but it does. It's an old-ass thing that the Order doesn't take seriously, but for some reason, it works, but only on akuma that are already dead…"

Allen found it useless to ask further since it seemed that even Cross didn't understand, but then Cross pushed Allen back against the wall. He stiffened with tension and prepared for Cross to heckle him or scold him, but then Cross set to removing Allen's coat, the pang in his chest reminding him that his injury needed to be inspected. The reminder Immediately made Allen relax, shrugging off his coat before he lost his shirt. Cross undid his bandages before setting them aside to inspect the injury itself. The wound was still closed, angry red and blue but without any blood on the surface, so Cross was satisfied enough and redid the bandages, leaving Allen to get dressed while he went to start a fire.

It was a small flame in the large and stained fireplace, making it difficult to keep the room warm, but that just made Allen sit up close to it, bundled up in his coat while realizing they'd have to find a new blanket for himself for the nights.

Cross managed to find scrap to cover the broken windows, but as he was covering the last one, Allen found himself absently staring at him, not having anything else to do. After a few minutes, Cross noticed the staring and looked over his shoulder to give Allen a handful of glances, some more troubled than the others, but soon he stopped altogether, accepting his fate and starting to talk to fill the void in the air.

"We'll start your training right away; we'll just be focusing on developing your strength, flexibility, and coordination."

It seemed reasonable, but Allen knew he shouldn't take things at face value. "Even when I'm healing?"

Cross scoffed, "You're not that fragile. We'll be training in a way that won't hurt you, but we can't just sit and do nothing. If you don't start training soon, that creepy fucking Innocence will snatch your body before you're able to do a handstand."

Recoiling at the mere mention of that _thing_ , Allen tried his best not to voice his disgust, instead just turning his attention back to the fireplace.

The fire was pathetically small, barely highlighting the fireplace in red or yellow, but it was pleasant to watch as the flames flickered. It helped him think, and after a few minutes of thought, he didn't take his eyes off the fire.

"I saw something."

Cross stilled, and then jerked around, reaching for his gun. "Saw what?"

"Back at the other house when I went looking for Lavi…" Allen said, seeing Cross visibly relax at the clarification. Despite Cross's relaxing muscles, Allen found himself curling up tighter. "When I went into the back of the house, I… thought the room changed."

Allen avoided looking at Cross, and waited until the man asked, "What did you see?"

"The outside changed… I saw a field and a tree, it stopped raining, and the house looked…" Allen trailed off as his eyebrows pulled together, trying to think about how to explain it. "The house looked like people actually lived there… it wasn't real, but I… felt like I'd seen it before. It _felt_ so real."

When nothing happened after he finished explaining, the unease in the air intensified, Cross's voice, when it finally reached Allen's ears, only adding to it as it was strained by confusion and some sort of hostility. "What _exactly_ did you see?"

"I don't remember exactly, but… there was furniture, and it was all clean, and I thought I could hear music. There were pictures on the walls, but I don't remember what was in them…"

There was another stretch of silence before Cross gave a hostile sigh that became a growl, causing Allen to finally look at him, seeing Cross running his hands through his hair. "Well, shit…"

"Is it something bad?" Allen quietly asked, his fingers lightly gripping the end of his pants.

"Depends," Cross grumbled before he turned towards Allen, expression clouded but certainly _angry_ , though Allen didn't think it was directed at him. "Bred-units are made empty, made to be filled by programming and instructions, as well as intensive training. You were empty when we got you, but they _tried_ to put something in you, so it could just be your programming coming in late, but…" Cross gave a loud groan as his hand was all but tearing through his hair, his foot irately tapping against the ground. "They wouldn't give you _those_ visions, though… it doesn't make sense for them to show you shit like that since it has no place in killing akuma. If that's not from their programming, then…" he trailed off, his body suddenly becoming motionless.

When Cross didn't continue, Allen inched closer to him. "What?"

"Then you're not a bred-unit," Cross finished quietly. "Or… if you are, you were implanted with memories of a made-unit or a normal person… either way," Cross finally regained his edge, "you're not just any unit. They don't do that shit to the ones that are 'disposable', so you were important enough to carry that information. But, in any case, if you see anything else, tell me immediately. There could be more to those hallucinations that you can't see yet."

There were too many emotions clouding over Cross's expression to count, but without question, Allen nodded. "Okay."

"Glad we have an understanding."


	10. Chapter 10

The first night was rough even without any dreams to haunt Allen's mind, what with the cold that held onto his body and didn't let go; it woke him multiple times over the course of the night until the sun finally lit up the backs of the neighboring trees. He had managed to lose most of his share of the blanket, and with a whine he pulled it back over himself, curling to reserve as much heat as possible. Allen pressed his back against the large source of heat behind him, only to be harshly shoved away moments later.

The cold brisk air woke Allen faster than the akuma ever did, and at once he was scrambling for the blanket again, Cross fully releasing it while he sat up and tiredly glowered at him. His hair was a mess, curling in all directions, and with a huff, he shrugged off Allen and got to his feet before lumbering away. Allen bundled up with the awarded blanket the moment it was released, continuing to shiver as Cross went to start a new fire.

It was a little larger than the last one, and as soon as it was decent sized Allen dashed closer to it, holding the blanket hostage as he tried to warm himself as much as possible.

"You are atrocious," Cross grumbled, and when Allen sent him a small huff, he just continued. "God, it's illegal to wake up this early."

Allen had no clue what counted as 'early', but he just pulled the blanket tighter around himself. "Well, you kept hogging the blanket! It was worse than Lavi kicking me at night!" he whined, though his voice lost the bite when he saw Cross by his bag pulling out what looked like food.

"Better than you twitching and making noises in your sleep. God, you're like a dog."

Huffing, Allen attempted to sulk, but couldn't pull his eyes away from the things Cross was pulling out of his case. After a few minutes, Cross strode over and handed him a bag of crackers and a cup full of something orange and creamy. He blinked at it, but Cross left him to it.

The crackers were thick and tasteless, but he found the cup to be full of peanut butter. He smacked his mouth a few times when he realized it, and from across the room he could hear Cross quietly laughing at him. Allen sent him an unseen glower before he went back and finished the crackers given to him.

After he was finished, Cross tossed him a water bottle and sent him to get cleaned up, and he was happy to see that the house's bathroom wasn't completely destroyed.

Things were cracked, fallen, and displaced, but there didn't seem to be any blood or anything else out of place. Allen avoided searching for anything he didn't immediately see, and set to brushing his teeth as fast as he could so he could leave. On his way back, he froze as he saw the assortment of medical items strewn about the kitchen counter.

Cross snapped his eyes up to Allen, and shoved a few items into his grasp before storming past him. "Wipe down the countertops. It's disgusting."

Allen stared after him, confused as to why Cross was suddenly so revolted, but dismissed it as he found it safer to do what Cross said instead of question it.

The immediate sharp chemical smell of whatever Cross gave him to clean with made Allen's skin crawl, the back of his neck tingling annoyingly, and Allen wished he had a free hand to try and smooth down the bristle that climbed his spine. Cross returned shortly after, but he didn't let Allen leave. He insisted they clean as much as possible, but at least he decided to help, making it less bothersome than it could be. The smell continued to unnerve him in some way, always at the edge of his thoughts as they cleaned up most of the dust and spare weeds.

Allen didn't even know the reasoning behind it all before Cross sighed and told Allen to stand back to check his chest again, but instead of leaving it as it was, Cross applied a salve to it, icy cold and making Allen lean away. It didn't matter, however, since Cross wasn't going to let Allen go until they were finished. Fresh bandages were applied after the salve, and Allen wriggled slightly from the cold feeling that didn't fade with the pressure of coverings and clothes.

"Alright, is anything bothering you?" Cross muttered, but as Allen grimaced at the coldness on his skin, he shook his head. Cross sighed at the response, and he crossed his arms. "Well, I guess we need to start thinking of things to do and get around here."

"Wait, so… how long are we staying here?" Allen asked.

Cross gave a small shrug. "Until we can't. Either the Order finds out we're here, or the akuma drive us out. We need to be cautious and trust our instinct about how long we stay. You need time and space to train, and this is probably the deadest region that's still within reasonable distance of the facilities."

Before Allen could say anything, Cross fixed him with a silencing glare.

"Look, I wasn't thinking we'd ever pick up a new person in our group, at least, not someone incapable of taking care of himself."

Allen frowned and shrank back.

"So, we need supplies for the both of us. I have enough food and medical for the two of us for now, but that doesn't include clothes, blankets, and anything else you may need. But, you're too weak to leave on your own for me to go get supplies right now."

"Well," Allen started, but Cross's stare made him give up on the argument he had in mind.

"Just because we exterminated the akuma here doesn't mean they'll be gone for too long. Others will still come around out of habit, and if they sense a human, they won't let you off easily," Cross said lowly. "Then I can't take you with me after what happened before, plus the hole in your chest isn't helping your cause."

It didn't feel good to hear that, and Allen made it clear on his face. "So… we can't get anything?"

"Not until your wound heals," Cross huffed. "You can already hold your own to a certain extent, and I'll train you until I think you can handle being _alone_. Or," Cross's stern glare suddenly faded as he was thinking, tapping his foot irately, "the city we just left probably has goods left behind… no promises how good they are, but they probably have materials still stored somewhere. We can stay near the outskirts, but…"

Cross continued talking to himself, voicing thoughts and ideas and weighing the pros and cons all by himself. Allen watched attentively, hopping up onto the counter behind him and lightly swinging his legs as he watched. He made sure to listen, too, though a lot of the ideas didn't quite make sense to him.

After a while, Cross snapped his fingers and crossed his arms, looking to Allen like he made up his mind.

"Okay, we'll stay here for three days and just deal with the cold, but then we'll go to the city and scavenge for things. Do not fuck up your chest or we'll be stuck here longer."

Allen nodded, Cross's tone carrying the impression that he wasn't going to have a voice in the decision, anyway. But, before Cross could walk off to find something to do, Allen jumped off the counter. "Wait, Cro… master, what are we gonna do, then? I don't want to freeze like that every night."

Cross was quiet for a moment, but then he turned and pointed to their things. "Use a coat or two. Simple."

"That's..!" Allen was about to argue, but then he sighed and gave up. They didn't have many options.

"If you want, go check out the back rooms," Cross pointed to the hall. "The akuma don't like going into crammed areas if there's nothing for them, so it should be fine. If you find anything, tell me before you try and drag it out." He approached Allen and jabbed him directly in the center of his chest. "Remember, your wound is tied to the muscles responsible for moving your arm and shoulders. Don't exert yourself any more than you have to."

Allen didn't even want to think about the possibility, so he nodded, and as soon as Cross backed off, he darted to the back of the house. There were only two other doors, and when he opened the first one, he found a room that was in complete disarray, but in a manner that looked done on purpose.

Instead of everything being scattered and destroyed, things were turned over, but in a row in front of the door. Blinking, Allen approached the overturned desk, leaning over it and spotting an assortment of sheets and colorful items, looking like smaller versions of cups, dishes, and spoons, all in vibrate pinks and purples, but with an odd grouping of black pillows that didn't look like they belonged in the house.

Behind the arrangement were a group of windows, the curtains dingy and bleached from sunlight, one of them dropped on the floor while the other was drooping from the pole supporting them. Cabinets were on one side of the room, opened to reveal nothing but pens and other small items that didn't seem overly useful to him.

Leaving things as they were, Allen backed out of the room and closed the door, going to the final room that when opened up, revealing an abandoned bedroom. The bed wasn't flush against the wall, the frame cracked and leaning at a specific angle. The dresser and tables were all thrown to one side of the room, large grooves of claw marks lining the walls, as though something too big was trapped in the room. The windows were shattered and broken in, glass covering the floor, and as Allen looked it over, he bit his lip and listened for any sounds that could at least suggest an animal.

Hearing none, Allen slowly tread into the room, finding no blood or erosion of the wooden floors, and as he neared the bed he reached out and touched it, finding it ice cold and worn, but nonetheless a blanket.

They could probably use it, if they could clean it, he figured. He left it behind to check the closet and dressers, finding them surprisingly empty, with only a few blouses and button-ups left behind, as well as a handful of jackets. It was the same situation of the bed, however, as the clothes were dirty and aged to the point that the creases in them were deep-set, and he left without retrieving any.

It was all there was to see, and Allen turned and started to leave the room, only for something to shoot out from under the bed, nearly swiping his feet out from under him as he gave a shrill scream. He stumbled, barely catching himself just in time to see the blur of something racing out the door.

A few seconds later, he heard Cross shout, cursing several times before Allen bolted out, catching sight of Cross up against a wall.

"Did you _have_ to wake up a fucking raccoon?!" Cross snapped, and Allen jumped.

"Is… that what it was?"

"Is!" Cross pointed, and Allen spotted a round furry animal up against the wall, looking like it was searching for a way out.

Allen's shoulders pulled up, not sure what to do and not sure what a raccoon was capable of, but Cross just sighed and slowly relaxed.

"Did you find a broom while you were walking around?"

Allen shook his head. "No, just… pencils…"

"Damn…" Cross muttered, but then he looked at Allen. "Go open the door."

At first, Allen was about to comply, until he realized that the animal was right by the door, nearly in front of it. Once he noticed, Allen whipped his head towards Cross again. "What?! No!"

Cross sent him a seething glare. "Do it or you're sleeping with a raccoon gnawing on you."

Not about to figure out if it was accurate, Allen looked to the door and the raccoon that was now walking in circles, and Allen frowned anxiously before looking back at Cross. "What will… you do…"

"Nothing, it'll run right outside," Cross said, planting himself firmly by the wall. "Move slowly and stick to the wall so it doesn't feel cornered, and don't let your legs get close to it. Animals are more scared of you than you are of them."

Nodding, Allen swallowed nervously and skittered to the wall, creeping along it while the raccoon's eyes locked onto him. It stood strangely, looking like nothing else Allen had seen, and as he reached the door, he leaned over as far as he could to grab the doorknob. He twisted it and threw it open, but the raccoon didn't move.

"Cross!" Allen cried out, turning to the man, only to see him walk to the other side of the living area.

Just his mere presence sent the animal out, and Allen took a deep breath.

"See? No reason to freak out," Cross said, approaching the door and shutting it himself. "So, other than _that_ , what did you find?"

For a moment, Allen had forgotten all about the rooms he'd seen, but then quickly shook his head and straightened himself. "Uh… a bed and just… some clothes and an…" he racked his mind, wrinkling his nose, "an… office?"

Cross gave a hum. "Alright… did you find anything we need?"

"A blanket, but it's dirty," Allen said, following Cross as he started for the back of the house, probably just to double-check. "The raccoon was under the bed, so…"

"Yeah, we're washing it," Cross muttered, stepping into the backroom and huffing. "Well, at least these people won't be coming back for any of this." He turned to Allen once he was finished saying it, his expression stern. "Don't feel bad about it."

Allen jumped. "I-I wasn't going to…"

"Yeah, you were," Cross interrupted him, not even turning to face Allen completely. "You don't need to feel bad for them; they're gone. Their stuff is here wasting away. I guarantee you whoever owned this place would rather someone benefit from it than have it rot."

It was hard to argue with, so Allen just nodded and accepted it. Seeming pleased about it, Cross turned back away and kicked the bed to check for more animals. With none running out, he set to looking through any possible places where spare blankets or sheets could be, but only found one extra set besides the one on the bed.

He tossed the blanket and the sheets off of the broken bed, the bundle of fabric hitting the floor with a cloud of dust that had both leaning away to avoid choking. Once the dust had cleared, Cross asked Allen to move his arm to feel how strong it was, but then asked him to help with moving the mattress itself. It was cumbersome and awkward, but Cross was handling most of the weight, leaving Allen to just push behind it until it was dropped on the floor of the living room.

"Now if we only had a second one," Cross muttered, lightly kicking the side of it to move it two more inches. "I'll have to look around for one when we get the chance."

"In… three days?" Allen asked, and Cross huffed.

"Yeah, if you're tough enough."

Allen frowned, but the only made Cross scoff.

"Well, if you want, we could start training already."

Before Cross even finished speaking, Allen was standing up straighter and hardening his expression. Even without saying anything, Cross was smirking.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

It started out with light exercises and instructions, the very first focusing on Allen's coordination, most without Allen having to move the muscles in his shoulder too much. They then worked on his balance, which he seemed to be good at in some regard, but the difficulty only increased as they slowly found Allen's boundaries at various skills.

Between training sessions were boring lulls that left Allen wishing he still had Lavi around, Cross kept him busy with something or another. He gave Allen chores to do, and around those, they would do whatever else came to mind. Allen's favorite pastime had been trying to build a card house, and only because Cross himself was bad at it, and his frustration at the task was amusing to spectate. When everything else failed, Cross tested Allen's knowledge with short quizzes scribbled on notebook paper, which resulted in Cross insulting Allen's atrocious handwriting and making him work on it.

It was horrible, and they went two more nights without the aid of the blanket to keep warm because after it was washed, they could only use the sun to dry it, and with the blanket being thick it took a ridiculously long time. By the time it was dry, though, Allen deemed it worth the wait, and despite the memories associated with it and the house, the building was starting to feel more comfortable.

Akuma drifted by frequently, but Cross handled it quickly, and by the third day, he was confident enough to 'go for a walk' as he put it, leaving Allen back at the house to keep a watch on their things. He left for a few hours, and when he came back he had a bag of supplies, which had Allen fuming.

"I thought we were going together?" he asked, trying to sound as stern as possible, but Cross only gave him a disinterested stare.

"Yeah, we were until I saw the patrols they had up in the city. Things went smoothly here, didn't they?"

Allen didn't ease off showing how unhappy he was, but he didn't have a choice but to accept it for what it was. It felt ridiculous to lament over a lost chance, but when Allen remembered the monstrous Innocence with the white eyes, he shuddered and swallowed all argument he could have about it.

He still felt miffed, though, but Cross just intensified his training. With his various cuts and his wound healing, there was less of a risk of accidentally hurting him, and it helped with his frustrations of being cooped up for so long and not having anyone to talk to outside of Cross, who wasn't very good company in the long-run with his lack of openness.

As Cross taught Allen more aggressive things, he also told him to focus on how he detected akuma. It was an all day, every day type of training, and Allen forgot he was doing it half the time when there was nothing stirring in the forest for too long. When he was supposed to be focusing on that, he'd find something else to do to busy himself, and as the days continued on, it became repetitive.

Cross was sitting on a bench that he brought in from outside, reading a book without a name on the cover and leaving Allen to fiddle with some sort of device he found in Cross's briefcase. It looked broken, and Cross didn't yell at him for picking it out or taking it apart, which must have meant that it was okay to break it more. He had no idea what it was, but it had dials and a compartment that needed to be carefully unscrewed to gain access to on its back, with two prongs on the top for some unknowable reason.

He had managed to pull out a set of green and blue wires from the strange device when his eye panged, Allen barely wincing as he was growing used to it.

Allen lifted his head towards the wall to guess how far away it was, still feeling out the edges of the limitations of his ability, he then turned his head to Cross. "Master, there's akuma outside."

Cross groaned agitatedly. It became clear that he hated them not just due to their frequency, but because Allen couldn't even safely train with them, rendering every encounter with them useless. He got up and started towards the door, "How many and where?"

Without being invited, Allen got to his feet and chased after Cross, shadowing him to the door. "I think just two, and…" as they got outside, he pointed off the main trail that lead to the house, "they're over there."

"Right," Cross grumbled, beginning to lurk his way down the trail with Allen following behind, the younger having a little more bounce in his step than necessary. Noticing his shadow, Cross flashed him a sideways look. "Why the hell are you following me?"

"Experience?" Allen suggested, smiling with an innocent shine that made Cross roll his eye.

The man just groaned and looked ahead again, not bothering to send Allen away. "Fine. How far away are they?"

"A good distance," Allen answered, not feeling as nervous as he used to be. Ever since he started focusing on training to understand his eye more, it felt like he could detect and almost see where the akuma were on a map in his mind. "I don't think they've noticed us… they don't seem to be moving."

"Good."

The roaring of the river gave a backdrop of noise that erased most sounds, but with his left eye and with Cross ahead of him, Allen had nothing to be worried about. A cold breeze pushed the branches above their heads, flickering the sunlight over the ground and dancing up their legs and backs, the weather a definite change from the violet storms that ravaged the area over a week before.

When they got close to where his eye was leading them, Allen reached out and tugged on Cross's coat, whispering for him to stop. He pointed into the skeletal foliage, and Cross right away ducked and made his way towards where Allen felt the akuma to be. Cross's movements were as quiet as a mouse. Allen tried to mimic him, nearly as quiet, though not quite there yet. The two of them stopped when they came across the scene.

Two akuma were crouched between the trees, almost lulling in an opening in the canopy that let sunshine cascade down on their skin, smooth and shiny and resembling crafted metal. As Allen looked closely, he could see their mangled and chapped lips moving, a drone of raspy voices barely calling above the distant sound of water, but lost among the rustle of pine needles. Curious, Allen lifted his gaze to the ghosts above them, but the ghosts weren't moving, silent, not even acknowledging the other beside them.

While Allen watched the creatures talk among themselves, Cross lifted the revolver, the clack of the hammer on the back of the gun startling the akuma into silence, but before they even detected the two humans in their midst, two ear-shattering blasts shot through the air, and then the akuma were gone amongst the grass. Their bodies started melting rapidly, the ghosts being chipped away of their fiery binds as they looked towards Cross and Allen, wide-eyed until they smiled and disappeared.

Allen kept his eyes up towards the canopy while Cross got up and marched towards the spot in the grass where it was dying and turning brown, stopping just before the corpses before he called out, "Kid."

Jerking back his attention, Allen didn't move from where he was. "Yeah?"

"Come here," Cross said, twisting to look at him and urging Allen over to stand awkwardly at his side. Surprisingly, Cross looked back to the bodies instead of Allen. "I'm going to teach you the spell that gets rid of them. It only works on dead akuma, but it's good for cleaning up a place so you don't get sick."

Allen straightened at once, a nervous smile spreading across his face. "Wait, I can learn to do that?!"

"Yeah."

"But… there's something to it, right? I have to…"

Cross sighed and turned towards him, looking oddly patient. "You don't need anything special except a willingness to learn and a good memory. My family was only interested in it because it was part of our heritage, not because of some in-born ability." He turned back towards the bodies. "Who knows if the Order has their own teachings of it, but while I was there I saw nothing of the sort."

It felt a little out of grasp for Allen, but he nodded anyway, a quiet sigh leaving Cross as he took a small step back, retrieving something from his shirt pocket before handing it to Allen. As Allen took it, he blinked as he realized it was a card from Cross's deck, and unsure what it was for, he looked to Cross for an explanation.

Luckily for him, Cross seemed to be in a teaching mood. "It's an aid to focus. Just having something in your hands will help direct your attention and energy towards. It's a simple trick, but it's a good one." Cross's expression suddenly twisted into a glower. "Do _not_ lose that."

Startled by the intensity of Cross's glare and his threat, Allen nodded. "I won't…"

"Good, now hold the card up between your fingers and turn yourself towards the akuma, look at them over the card and repeat what I say."

Allen followed Cross's directions, and luckily, Cross recited the spell slowly, a series of sounds that didn't sound like actual words, giving Allen plenty of time to memorize it. When Cross left it to him to repeat the spell, Allen worked his words carefully and spoke softly but clearly. It was strange, and he almost felt silly, but he tried to stay focused until he reached the end of the spell. The corpses began dissolving away the moment he stopped speaking. The poison itself vanished, leaving only a large circular part of the grass that was unnaturally rotten and seemingly ripped out of the ground.

Seeing he succeeded, Allen perked up and smiled, only for him to sway, bringing his hand over his chest as he suddenly felt out of breath. With his eyebrows pulling together in confusion, he looked to Cross, who just snorted at him.

"Yeah, that shit will eat away your stamina, too. We'll need to work on that."

His lesson apparently done, Cross snatched the card back and started marching back towards the house, Allen rushing to follow until his foot kicked something hard, a loud bang echoing through the air and stilling the two of them. Blinking, Allen stepped back and looked down, eyes widening more at a glinting piece of metal poking out through the mud.

Allen knelt down and carefully began brushing off the mud to see more of the shine, and seeing it much larger than he originally thought, he carefully grabbed the slab and wiggled it to loosen the soil and plant matter that locked it in place. As he moved it, light was allowed beneath it, and he saw something much smaller shine, and he carefully reached in to take it.

He gathered the tiny pebble-like piece of metal, feeling a somehow familiar slack and swing of a chain as he lifted it. Allen held it up close to his face, he used his thumb to wipe away the damp soil, revealing an engraving on the metal that looked intricate and artfully done. As Allen inspected it, he saw a small button on the top, but before he could press it, Cross came back, the plants rustling around him.

"What the hell did you find?" he snapped impatiently, eye narrowing as he saw Allen inspecting something in his hand.

Figuring that Cross would know, Allen quickly straightened himself. "I found this," he said as he looked down at the slab, wedging his foot beneath it before wiggling it, allowing the shine of the metal catch Cross's attention.

Interest piqued, Cross moved past Allen and ducked to lift the slab. As he heaved it up, both he and Allen noticed a much thinner piece at the end, so Cross moved his hands to grip it. He pushed it up, releasing most of the ground from it, and with it free, he pulled it from the earth, the shape of it revealing itself and dawning on them what it was.

A sword.

It was somewhat worn, dirty and cloudy, another engraving flowing along the metal of the intimidatingly sized blade. The engraving was shallow, but it brazenly drew out a cross, the treatment of the metal making the cross shine brighter than the rest of the sword when the sunlight hit it, making it more obvious. It was amazing, but while Allen stared at it in awe, Cross was frozen, lips slightly parted as his eye flitted over it, taking in every detail of its appearance.

Cross's silence was unnerving, but Allen couldn't figure out why, looking back and forth between them until Cross seemed to snap out of it, looking almost furious.

"What do you have in your hand?!"

The words startled Allen more than anything had that day, and he almost dropped the item in his hand before he reached out and gave it to Cross. The man immediately brought it closer to himself and scrutinized it, though it only lasted for a moment before all anger was shattered, replaced instead by horror. It crashed over him hard, locking him in place with the blade nearly slipping from his grasp.

It was terrifying in of itself to see Cross's fingers trembling, his face becoming as pale as his mask, but then Cross closed his eyes, swallowing the emotions that were brewing, and he curled his fingers over the metal, a deep and shaking breath pulling into his chest.

Unnerved, Allen waited a few moments before he took an uneasy step closer to Cross. "Master?"

The sound of his voice had Cross's eye snapping open, once again boiling and full of an intensity that set his expression blazing, dropping the fist that contained the item and giving Allen a heated glare. "What the hell are you doing? Get back to the house!"

The sharpness of his words almost startled Allen out of his skin, never having heard the man so upset. Allen's muscles tensed, and not wanting to upset Cross any further, he simply nodded and started back towards the house, Cross not following him the entire way. The house still looked decrepit and hostile, but it was nothing compared to the tone of Cross's voice just then, so Allen eagerly entered it, taking solace in the silence and the lack of noise from the floorboards.

On the floor was the gadget he was playing with before, but he felt no desire to play it with it again, especially with his skin still bristling with goosebumps. Instead, he sat next to the device and tried to do something else to distract himself, eventually falling to picking up a loose screw and rolling it around in his hand, feeling the tiny edges and the difference in weight as he rolled it around his palm.

He was alone until well past midday, the sun wavering in the west side of the sky and about to begin descending to the horizon. Allen took to laying on the floor, resting his eyes and trying to avoid thinking about what happened in the woods. The way it made his heart race was unpleasant, and the thought of having upset Cross to that point scared him. What could only make it worse was the paranoia of not knowing what would come of it after.

The door opened without any wild swing or force, but still Allen jumped and swung himself up, tensed and ready for any sort of barrage Cross could have, but Cross just walked by him, all but dragging his feet and carrying the sword with it leaned against his shoulder. He entered the kitchen and simply leaned the sword against one of the counters, making sure it was balanced before he turned and locked eyes with Allen.

Neither said anything, Allen waiting with his nerves frayed, but then Cross grimaced unhappily and stormed into the living room. Allen hurriedly tried to scramble to his feet only for Cross to drop on the floor beside him. The heat of his glare could create a desert out of a sea, yet somehow cold enough to freeze Allen in place, holding himself as still as possible while Cross held the item - now clean and obviously a necklace - between his fingers.

There were thoughts tumbling around in Cross's mind, visible only through his clouded expression, an impassable storm that Allen could only hope he was in the eye of. He refrained from speaking, simply because he wasn't sure just what Cross was upset about yet.

Finally, after several minutes, Cross looked at what he had in his hands and then offered it to Allen, waiting until Allen gingerly took it and began looking over the piece of jewelry before he started talking.

"Do you know what that is?"

Allen moved it around with his fingers, looking at it from all sides before turning his eyes to Cross. "A necklace?"

"A locket," Cross clarified. "You wear it around your neck like a necklace but… open it."

Blinking at both the idea but also the instructions, Allen found the button on the top of the metal again and pressed it, a small clasp audibly undoing as the lid flipped open, exposing a nearly pristine set of images inside. On one side was a tiny picture of older people, a man with short dark brown hair and a woman with long red hair, her smile gentle but the man's lacking in almost all ways. Something piqued in Allen's mind, but he couldn't place it, and with his eyebrows pulling together, the uncomfortable feeling sent him looking at the second photo.

In the other side was a photo of Cross, only younger and looking less frayed, with both of his eyes as he stood beside another young man who looked very similar to him. His hair was less wild and dangerous, free of all curls, and he wore round, thin-rimmed glasses, his expression several times more composed than Cross's seemingly permanent aura of gloom. The two sets of pictures were confusing in both meaning and why they were there in the first place, looking to Cross for help in what he was supposed to be seeing.

"The man next to me is my older brother. He went missing about ten years ago," Cross began, his voice quiet and almost solemn.

Surprised that he'd be told this, Allen glanced down at the locket again, now holding it much more carefully to avoid damaging it. "A… brother?" The word clicked in Allen's mind, but it still felt like a foreign concept, unable to wrap his mind over what kind of relationship that would be like. His eyes drew to the other side of the locket. "And the other two?"

"Our parents," Cross murmured, like he hadn't mentioned them in a long time and had forgotten how to properly pronounce the word. "They passed away shortly before we joined the Order. A freak disaster came through and they got sick from the akuma's poison, so even though we all got to a facility okay, they didn't live for very long there."

It was so personal that Allen wasn't sure what to do. It felt somehow offensive to breathe, but Cross just sighed and looked at him unhappily.

"It's fine… we moved on from it in time because we had each other. We even enlisted ourselves to the Order together to figure out what it was that killed our parents, and then we got more curious, so we stayed and fell even deeper into their ranks." As he spoke, Cross's gaze shifted away from Allen, focusing on the floor, instead.

It took time before Allen could find his tongue, but once he did, he cautiously asked, "What's your brother's name?"

There was a stroke of hesitation, a flicker of Cross's eye from the locket to the walls, and he slowly reached out to take the locket back, closing it with a soft click before he ran his thumb over the engraving on the surface. His voice carried the wavering unease of his gaze as he said, "His name was Allen Marian."

The moment Cross spoke, Allen regretted ever asking, and he nearly toppled over from the shock that made his head spin, having to force himself to stay upright. He stared at Cross, half expecting for him to snarl at him, but when he didn't, Allen chanced a quiet, "Like… my name?"

A small smirk pulled at Cross's lips as he gave a condescending snort. "Yeah. When you first told me your name, I thought you were dicking with me, and apparently Bookman felt the same way, too. My brother worked under him for a long time until he got moved to the unit handling division, but then Bookman defected before he went missing." The smile then completely faded, the dark of his eyes only increasing. "Ever since then, me and Bookman have looked everywhere for him and two others."

"Two others?" Allen asked.

"A pair of twins," Cross scoffed at the mention of them, and seeing Allen's confused expression, he continued. "Twins are a pair of siblings born at the same time. The two in question were identical, from some family outside the facilities. My brother and I met them when we were younger, and we did a lot of stupid shit together. After we got jobs in the Order, we saw them less often, but…" Cross grimaced, "my brother hated being cooped up, especially after I got ' _promoted_ ' to a unit and we suddenly couldn't see each other."

Sighing, Cross ran his hand through his hair. "So, my brother would go on 'trips', saying he was off to study something, and then he'd somehow find the twins, and they'd do whatever until he came back. He was more involved with them than me, and… all of three of them just vanished." The mention of it made him bare his teeth, fingers curling and tightening around the locket. "I'm not even sure exactly _when_ … I was gone on a mission when it happened, and the Order wouldn't keep their story straight."

The stress that overcame Cross was palpable, and Allen frowned worriedly. "Could they be in one of the facilities?"

"That's why we're here," Cross explained tiredly. "Outside the Order, we can monitor the facilities and how they interact with each other; if they have my brother, we'll hear about it eventually while staying out of the line of fire, but we haven't heard anything in years… It's safe to assume that they don't have him." With a huff, Cross turned his glare to the window. "Bookman and I discussed going further inland, but with the akuma getting strange and winter coming soon, it's gotten complicated."

Allen didn't doubt that he himself was a complication.

Cross seemed to run out of things to talk about, alternating between feeling the engraving beneath his thumb and popping open the locket before closing it again. His expression got softer as the minutes passed, to the point that Allen felt uncomfortable just seeing it. After a short while, Cross hardened his gaze and looked to Allen again.

"We spent years looking for them, and we didn't find a single trace of them… except…"

Allen jolted, his muscles tensing again. "The… locket and the sword?"

Cross nodding, scoffing, though it lacked a bite. "Yeah, and we've been all over the goddamn place. I never thought we'd find some of their shit just lying on the ground in the middle of the woods."

"Between a pair of akuma," Allen added, Cross giving a short huff of a laugh, giving him a reason to relax again. "But, if that's what you were all doing… what's the plan?"

"I wish I knew," Cross sighed. "We hit a dead end with all our leads. Bookman keeps delaying us with leads that aren't even _about_ my brother or what he was working with, then I find you, and now all of this with the Order…" his voice trailed off, no longer focusing on anything in particular. "I don't know what Bookman wants; he's always just barely kept his nose out of trouble, but he forgets that we've been just running in circles."

It did feel sketchy, but Allen took it with salt since he was hearing it just from Cross, but even then, he dropped his eyes to the floorboards, not knowing what to say or suggest.

This problem was different than all the ones he'd known so far. The ones he had to figure out were sudden, and they had to act quickly to solve them. There was very little waiting, very little planning, just finding their destination and going for it. Evade, fight, stand back, watch. Trying to think of more people being involved, of the relationships affected, and a history beyond ruined buildings and rainy forests, Allen almost felt dazed.

It felt like there was a curtain in his way, blocking him from the rest of the world that the others got to experience. There was a performance that he wasn't going to see, and he wasn't sure if he was even going to be on stage.

The mental image made his eyebrows pull together, but then he sighed and ran his hand up over his face, fingertips brushing the fabric of the beanie where he stopped his hands. He wasn't sure why he suddenly felt so bad, like he was purposefully being left out or like he wasn't even meant to be there, but he forced himself to dismiss it. Compared to Cross, Allen didn't have any problems despite his own body; he didn't have a right to be upset.

"Cross?" he asked quietly, drawing the man tiredly back. With his attention, Allen felt his voice grow even quieter. "When do you think we'll see Bookman and Lavi again?"

He half expected Cross to snap at him or even just criticize him for being 'clingy', but Cross's eye just crinkled slightly with a subtle tinge of bitterness, sighing quietly before he leaned back, idly playing with the locket in his hands. "Not for a while. Both of us need to shake the Order off and give it some time before we group up again."

"Oh," Allen could only say, having no idea what that would mean for them later.

Seeing Allen's subtle frown, Cross sighed lowly and fully relaxed. "You and Lavi have too much in common already… when I first met him, he was smarter than hell but so lonely that he didn't know how to shut the hell up. All he wanted to do was talk and talk and talk, so I told Bookman to stop leaving him outside of town because it was killing him to not have anyone to talk to outside of him."

It was strange to hear, but judging from how Cross smirked at Allen's face, he knew that Allen was interested.

"I left again, and when I came back, Lavi was put together better, but he went from just being smart and having no social skills to having _too many_." Cross snorted and he gripped the locket a little tighter. "He picks shit up faster than Bookman, and I can't tell if that's terrifying or not. Bookman swears up and down that they're not related, but damn do they seem like it."

Allen chuckled softly, but as a bitter thought ran through his mind without his permission, his smile strained. "Too bad I don't look like him, then, huh? We wouldn't be stuck out here…"

Out of all the options, he didn't think Cross would jolt and actually look like he was pitying him, but it was gone before Cross grimaced, reached over, and yanked down Allen's beanie again.

"Ow!"

"Don't fucking act like you're going to be stuck out here forever!" Cross said loudly, erasing the quiet mood that they had between them only a few moments ago. "Yeah, you look weird, but so do I, if you haven't noticed. Plus, what do you think about Bookman? His eyes alone will get him identified!" Releasing Allen's beanie and returning to his own space, Cross scoffed and rolled his eye. "You're out here to _train_. You can't _train_ when you're surrounded by people who may or may not be in liege with the Order, and once you are able to do that, then we'll figure out that face of yours so you don't have to be in hiding all the time."

Allen was about to snap at him until he realized just what he'd signed himself up for. Cross said _people_ , and he wasn't sure what that would be like. His mind provided no images or descriptions to help him, only making his chest tighten with fear before he grimaced.

Cross openly laughed at him, low and almost threatening. "Yeah, just wait until you see the city. You'll _wish_ you were a hermit living out here in the woods."

He quickly bypassed Allen's fearful gawking before he resituated himself on the floor, crossing his legs and taking a breath that seemed to rid the air of all the uncomfortable darkness that had started to build up, clearing it out and giving themselves a fresh place to start.

Cross rested his eyes for a moment, but as he reopened them, he looked sharper than he did before, and he straightened his shoulders into an imposing figure. "Since you're so defenseless without an Innocence, your training will just be increasing your options. Units are too dependent on their Innocence; when you take that away or put them in a place disadvantageous to them, they fall apart. If you have more options and can see more ways of going about yourself, you'll be more threatening to them than anything else."

The mere description of something like _that_ made Allen skeptical, but he nodded anyway. "Like spells, or..?"

"No, spells don't do shit against units," Cross muttered. "They can't affect a physical person because it's just shifting energies around. I have no idea why akuma are affected once they're dead, my only hypothesis is that the spell just speeds up the erosion process that keeps it from spreading."

A little daunted, Allen nodded nontheless. "So, I'll be learning what?"

"We'll keep practicing with spells, but I'll teach you how to be more flexible with your fighting style, especially since you're weak on one side," Cross explained. "Maybe if you get good enough, I'll give you some sort of weapon, but in the meantime, just hand-to-hand to learn your basics."

The anticipation of learning something like that made Allen beam and almost hop to his feet, but before he could say or do anything, Cross sighed and slowly got up. He left Allen for the kitchen, leaving Allen staring after him until he dropped his eyes to the sword leaning on the counter. As his thoughts wandered, occasionally Cross would call back and ask if Allen remembered the spell he recited before, walking him through it when Allen struggled. It was probably just to waste time, but Allen didn't mind it.

Between the surprise quizzes, though, Allen was left with just his thoughts, and he couldn't help but frown as he realized just what Cross was teaching him to do.

Cross was only teaching him to buy time in a fight until he could be saved by somebody else. His face twisted as he realized he hated being so defenseless, but as he focused on the gigantic sword, he couldn't help but ask, "Master, was that your brother's, too?"

Cross wrinkled his nose. "No, it was one of the twin's that he used to dick around with. I don't remember which one."

"Could I use it?" Allen asked, and Cross gave him an odd look.

"It's too big; two-handed. If you really want a sword we'll find you one more decently sized."

The discouraging comment made Allen scowl, but he soon dropped it. The sword did look too heavy; too tall, too thick, and with the effort of trying to lift it and keep it balanced, Allen knew his left side would be too vulnerable.

He still wasn't happy about it, though.

Before it got too dark, Cross fetched some wood and fed the fire just enough to warm the house, and Allen curled up on the blanket that was now clean and dry, watching as Cross moved his own bed closer to the fire than he normally did.

Hours passed, and unable to sleep, Allen glanced up by chance just in time to see the sight of glinting metal between Cross's fingers, holding it up to the light to look it over again.

Allen frowned, but then he rolled over to face away from the light, sighing quietly in an effort to relax his muscles and closing his eyes. He forced himself to sleep, only to be roused what felt like seconds later by the sound of crashing and thunder, rocketing both him and Cross to their feet.

Recounting every lesson he was taught, Allen readied himself for a fight as they both quickly stepped towards the sound. Allen's left eye wasn't burning, but that didn't make him relax after what happened with the monster at the facility, no comfort being found in any absence of warning.

They pressed their backs against the wall closest to the noise, the windows not looking at anything but complete darkness and not allowing either of them to see through it. No sounds followed but the rushing river that was always creating a backdrop for them, no crashing or further disturbances disrupting the roar of water.

They waited until Allen felt like he was about to doze off on his feet, being startled awake when Cross stormed loudly to the fireplace and fell back on his bed to sleep. Allen hesitated before slowly following his example. Before Allen could fully lay down in his own bed, however, he heard Cross speak up.

"Sleep closer to me so you don't get kidnapped again," Cross muttered.

Part of Allen wanted to whine and just go to sleep where his bed already was, but the part that won knew that if he didn't listen, something bad would happen just to give Cross a reason to badger him later. With a tired groan, Allen picked up his blanket and slid it over closer to the fire, the warmth comforting and informing him that it was surprisingly colder throughout the rest of the house. Bundling up in the blanket the best he could while also using it as a mattress, Allen found himself falling asleep much more easily near the hearth.

Morning came, and it was freezing, but Allen woke up to the sound of Cross cursing and trying to get another fire started. As Allen stirred, he slowly and stiffly sat up, though as the blanket fell off of him, he immediately shivered, a shaky breath leaving his lips in a cloud. The sight startled him, and tentatively he breathed out again, slowly, watching as it was visible through the air until dissipating.

Excited by this discovery, Allen turned to voice it to Cross, but when he did, he caught something out the window.

White.

His body was struck with apprehension, and instead of going for Cross, he slowly got to his feet, hugging himself while he turned to face the windows closest to him. At seeing the world in the new day, Allen could barely hold himself back from running to the edge of the window. The floorboards were freezing beneath his feet, but he couldn't think about that when the world outside was covered in white.

The river still flowed, but everything else was buried in an unbroken, blinding blanket. Allen stared, amazed and also disturbed by the sudden change in landscape, but then his recollection spoke for him.

Snow.

He didn't know what to think about it, but then he heard Cross snort behind him, "Well, I guess this'll be your first winter. Don't break your fuckin' leg when you step outside."

Along with that, Allen reminded himself not to fall in the river if he decided to go out, not that Allen wanted to when it was already so cold while he was still indoors. Deciding that was a problem, Allen rushed over to help Cross get the fire going, not leaving the fire's side until he snuck one too many piles of twigs into it and nearly lit Cross's hair on fire. 

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**AN: This chapter had so much editing to do that even starting on it a week early didn't help! It also didn't help that it became a giant chapter, too! *sobbing* And I know the others are going to be worse!**

 **Also, this was a really strange transitional chapter, so I hope it wasn't too awkward to read. Thank you all very much for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Sorry that this took so long to upload! This needed some heavy editing and it fell into a super busy few weeks that were full of writer's block and classes, not to mention I had relatives move in and it's been kind of hell on my attention span and nerves. Thank you for your patience!**

* * *

Bundled up in his coat, Allen was standing outside and staring at what was left of the dock. It became apparent that the crashing from the night before had been the river finally ripping apart the dock and taking it away to some unknowable destination, jarring Allen to think of how much power it would have taken to accomplish. The snow crunched under his feet when he started around the house, off to find more firewood as they'd definitely need more than just twigs now.

Cross was off finding more supplies to get through the winter, not to mention more food and clothing since Allen's were just spares that Lavi could live without, though with the sudden snowfall, Allen wondered if Lavi was alright with the cold.

A bundle of branches were tucked in a loop of fabric that Cross had quickly crafted for Allen when he realized that he couldn't hold branches _and_ pick up more at the same time, and it was currently saving him in time and effort. Allen already had a pile inside, but he needed to keep himself busy until Cross came back. Plus, the wood was wet from snow and it needed to dry before they could burn it, so building an excess would be better for the future if not just for convenience. He was probably just finding solutions for nonexistent problems, but Allen thought he was clever for thinking ahead for once.

With the snow covering everything, it was tempting to wander farther off to look for more easy-to-lift branches, but Allen felt it in his gut that he would get lost, even with his own footsteps giving him a path directly back to where he came from.

After depositing his most recent grab of firewood, Allen decided to venture down the river to see if he could find something interesting; after finding the sword and the locket, Allen hoped he could find more clues to help Cross in his search. He kept a cautious distance from the edge of the river, but he kept it in sight so he wouldn't distance himself too far away from it.

The cold air was brisk, but Allen's coat and his beanie kept it from getting to him too much, and still whenever Allen exhaled he felt a strange sense of levity at the clouds that left his lips. Cross had made fun of him when he noticed Allen breathing out more slowly to make longer lasting clouds, and Allen made it a point not to do it while Cross was around just to avoid his teasing.

A loud snap tore apart the peaceful stillness, jerking Allen's head to the side to see a bundle of snow falling from a tree, a large-winged bird emerging from the branches. The bird's shape arched overhead, and Allen saw a golden shine come off of its wings, staring after it to follow its path through the air.

Surprisingly, though, the bird didn't fly away. Instead, it swerved and careened towards him, startling Allen back as it was getting uncomfortably close.

Not sure if he upset a random animal or if this was something else, Allen readied to turn and sprint away until the bird fell in front of him. Up so close, Allen noticed that it wasn't actually a bird but rather… a thing. His mind didn't give any suggestions as to what it could be, but it was round and had wings, quite possibly being the strangest, largest bug to ever exist.

It hovered like it was inspecting him, disregarding Allen's wariness as he tried to back away, always making up the distance as soon as it was gained. The strange bug followed in pace with Allen's steps, and soon Allen simply had to accept the fact that he was being followed by a weird golden bug, only able to relax because it didn't seem aggressive. Deciding to leave it alone, Allen started ignoring it and continued on his path down the river.

The bug made very little noise, the flapping of its wings very faint, and when Allen looked at it, he noticed it didn't have a mouth or even eyes. Instead, it had two tiny horns, its face only baring a cross that was just a shade lighter than the rest of its body. Even weirder was it had a long, winding tail, a large puff of fur or feathers that appeared to be more in-line to weigh the bug down than help it in any way. Pursing his lips at the strange creature, Allen faced it more directly and waited to see if it did anything.

When it only continued to watch him, Allen asked it, "What are you supposed to be?"

Allen hadn't seen a mouth, but when he saw the bug open up and be filled with several tiny sharp teeth, Allen had almost slipped in a fit of fear when it quietly growled at him.

By the time Allen returned to his senses, he was in a full-sprint away from the bug, hearing its wings behind him as it was trying to catch up with him. As it darted ahead of him, Allen yelled and slid on the snow, twisting himself into another direction before bolting that way. The bug fought to keep up, determined to stay with him, and as Allen looked over his shoulder to see where it was, his foot fell through a thicker layer of snow, plummeting to the ground with a flurry of white.

As Allen raised his head, he puffed and shook the snow off his face, his clothes now wet and cold and leaving him fighting off shivers. The bug dropped onto the snow in front of his face, a whiny growl leaving it as it inched towards him, its wings drooped and tail slithering through the snow.

It crept up to Allen's face, and then with one of its tiny feet, patted him on the nose.

The behavior that could have been called shy made Allen briefly smile, and before he knew it, he was giggling. "Did you just want to be my friend?"

When the bug growled again and fluttered its wings, Allen smiled wider, his laugh coming easier, "Oh! Sorry, you startled me with those teeth, but we can be buddies. I don't know if master will let me keep you, though…"

In response to that, the bug bared its teeth again, making Allen laugh more as he slowly sat up. He stretched out his hand, letting the bug crawl up, its body weighing surprisingly little, even with the added weight of its wings and tail. Allen held it up by his face, laughing as it teetered with the movement, but then the bug ruffled up, and something pulled Allen's attention aside.

The tree line was a few meters away, the brush lacking in most of its bulk, but the trunks of trees still created a screen that blocked out most of the view. Among the many shadows of trees was a silhouette, standing still with broad shoulders, facing Allen.

Allen stopped breathing as he saw the shape, not sure what to do. If it was Cross, he would've called out already, but there wasn't a sound, not even the occasional crow. He wasn't willing to move, fearing that if he did, it would trigger the shape to move, too. It was dangerous, and despite Allen's scar not panging with alarm yet, it didn't feel safe.

Nothing moved for a long time, just the rushing path of water behind him that made Allen know that time was passing. Allen tried to avoid even blinking, but his position, kneeled on the ground, was starting to make his legs ache, and he was beginning to feel the threat of teetering.

The figure shifted, coming closer to the edge of the trees, Allen unable to make out features before his scar throbbed, whipping his head around to spot a tall and lanky figure standing across the river. Its black skin shined like ice, the very depths of the akuma resonating a deep and vivid indigo that made it stand out against the opposing snowbank. Above the akuma was its ghost, blank eyes never straying to look at Allen as it muttered incoherently, but the akuma itself was staring directly at him as it started taking long, purposeful strides towards the river.

Then it jumped, impossibly high and impossibly far. Allen scrambled to his feet without another thought as he _knew_ it would make the jump across the river. His heart pounded in his chest, the snow slick under his feet, causing him to stumble.

His eye panged to other akuma, as though alerted to the presence of a human, and as Allen turned his head, he could see the glint of their ghosts through the woods on the opposite side of the river. The purple akuma crashed onto the bank, but it ran like it was built for the snow, not slipping or struggling through the depths of powder, and Allen bit the inside of his cheek as he tried to think of an escape plan.

As he glanced back to see how much room he had to maneuver, a white tendril shot out from the forest and impaled the akuma. It staggered, its knees buckling, but as the apparent bolt was ripped free of the akuma, it hit the ground and didn't move. The ghost above it took a deep breath and then was gone.

The sight of a possible ally, of a helpful being, almost made Allen pause in his retreat, but the tendril began dissolving, the color and shape reminding him of something.

It looked like Innocence.

The thought of encountering that _thing_ again chilled his blood more than the ice and snow, so he kept running, pushing himself harder as another tendril shot out, this time aiming at _him_.

Allen yelped as it snapped at his ankles like a snake, losing its height with the distance, but he was able to prevent outright falling. The bug followed closely, a bolt aiming at it, as well, but soon the attacks stopped coming, and as Allen looked to find out why, he saw more akuma over the river, all being targeted instead.

A distraction was what he needed, so he bolted to the nearby woods and dove to the ground to get behind a snowbank, but didn't allow himself to stop as he made his way to find the house again.

The sounds of akuma making sounds, ranging from screeches to just snaps of their jaws, to even broken attempts at speaking, echoed over the snaps of the tendrils killing them, and Allen used them as a gauge to tell him how far away from them he was. When the sounds fell silent, he fell still, holding himself carefully as he waited and listened.

Nothing happened or stirred, the bug settling on Allen's shoulder, and he held his breath.

No birds, no wind, no sign of movement until the snow crunched nearby, and then Allen bolted.

His eye was hurting, the targets popping up in his mind of where the akuma were, as though they were drawn to the area.

They were surrounding him, and Allen couldn't tell where the house was, if the house was inside the circle or not.

As he nearly broke out of the brush, the bug bit the edge of Allen's hood. With a surprising amount of strength, it stopped Allen mid-run. With its wings flapping harshly to hold him back, Allen was left craning his head to find it and see what it was doing, only to see an akuma lunge past him, not looking his way. It was gone in a flash, the targets moving past him, and the bug released him, letting him continue on.

As he reached the house, he saw footprints in the snow, and unable to remember if they were his or Cross's, Allen found himself muttering, "Please be Cross. Please be Cross. Please be Cross…"

He slammed open the door to the house and saw nobody inside, and cursing his luck, Allen threw the door shut and ran past the living room, not caring that he was leaving snow across the wooden floors, but as he nearly ran past the kitchen he saw the giant sword leaned against the counter.

As his eyes found it, Allen sucked in a breath and reached for it without stopping his sprint. He wrapped his fingers around the hilt and attempted to pull, its weight refusing to move and nearly making his legs fly out from under him. Allen yelped as his feet scuffed the ground, barely able to regain his footing before he could fall completely.

He tugged on the hilt again, able to get the blade off the ground, but the sword wavered, pulling his arm with it. Gritting his teeth, Allen backed into the bedroom, kicking the door shut before he softly cursed.

He had been making too much noise, and if the akuma heard any of it, they would come investigate.

Allen turned and saw the marks on the walls, the remaining signs of a trapped akuma, and Allen strained to keep himself from locking up.

His eye kept track of the nearby akuma, and when he focused, he felt he could see where the battle was happening. Targets in his mind would just disappear, the relief overcoming him when Allen realized that the fight was a little farther away than he thought.

At least, that relief only lasted until it started drifting closer.

"Oh no…" Allen murmured, putting the tip of the blade to the floor in an effort to reserve his strength. If he needed to swing it, he needed a perfect first strike to even survive a few seconds, and Allen readied himself.

The bug on his shoulder flew to the dresser to protect itself, disappearing from sight as Allen focused on breathing and listening, feeling as the akuma drifted closer, some vanishing and others not.

A door opened somewhere in the house, the sound of strange footsteps echoing after it. They were irregular, followed by a second set.

Allen poised himself, positioning his legs in the way Cross taught him how, to keep his balance. His eyes locked on the door, feeling the targets moving as well as hearing as the footsteps drew closer, until they were just beyond the door.

Allen held his breath as the doorknob rattled and shook before it finally turned. The door opened, and Allen swung the blade up from the floor and into the akuma's stomach. It gave a retching and shrill scream as the blade sunk into its leathery stomach and tore upwards, catching on its ribcage that had almost formed a weird chestplate. Without the ability to gain leverage, especially since Allen was already struggling with the sword's weight, he simply let its weight aid him in swinging it back down.

As the blade tore free, Allen twisted his body, gaining momentum as he swung the sword as hard as possible, crashing it into the head of the akuma and smashing it into the wall. The wall began being eroded away as black blood oozed down it.

As Allen saw the akuma's ghost vanish, the one behind it lunged, now no longer impeded by the first's larger body. It jumped like a monkey, but it's twisted face resembled an old, beak-nosed man, its range forcing Allen to abandon the sword where it lay impaled in the corpse and jump backwards, narrowly avoiding the second akuma's curved, needlepointed claws.

When the akuma hit the ground, it was like it had springs on its feet, continuing to leap after Allen and swiping its claws at him. Allen managed to dodge most of the swipes, but his eyes widened as he spotted an opening in the akuma's movements, and he threw his fist, landing it directly into the akuma's eye.

It threw the akuma to the wall, and seeing it momentarily stunned, Allen's heart raced, lunging to keep it grounded.

The sword was too far away and too out of reach, but Allen couldn't just leave the akuma to recover. He dropped over it and punched it whenever it started to stir, whispers of alarm and pleas in Allen's ear that urged him on, growing more energetic with every strike, turning to a single gasp when the akuma lashed out and slapped Allen's face with enough force to throw him off, a sharp sting in his cheek.

Allen purposefully rolled across the floor to gain distance, and as he looked up he saw the akuma already lunging. Its face was smeared by dark magenta blood that leaked from his nose and mouth.

Seeing it coming, Allen rolled onto his back and brought up his legs, catching the akuma on the bottoms of his feet and throwing it against the wall with a loud bang that rattled the windows. The akuma, stunned again, fell on its legs and wavered, Allen throwing himself back on his feet before he ran to it, bringing back his arm to knock it down again.

The punch he delivered also carried a deep and thrumming crack that made Allen's stomach turn, tasting acid in his mouth as the akuma hit the floor, too much magenta for a normal punch or a normal skull.

The ghost vanished as soon as the akuma was downed, the floor beginning to melt as soon as it hit the floor. Allen just stood there, breathing heavily as his face was cold with sweat. He tore his coat off, staggering as he dropped it to the floor behind him. With the blood melting through the floor, he had to do something about it, and with pronounced pauses, he tried to recite the spell that Cross taught him, having to try three times before it became apparent that he was doing it wrong and gave up.

"Ugh, dammit…" Allen panted, and realizing his legs were shaking, he let himself drop to one knee to try and collect himself.

His head felt hot, his heart was beating more than he thought was necessary, and too hard for the situation. He trained harder than this, and even though he had been running through deep snow and been collecting firewood all day, he didn't think this equated to what he was feeling. The breathlessness in of itself was almost upsetting, and Allen screwed his eyes shut to unravel all the knots in his stomach and get the tightness from his throat.

It was silent, but that disappeared behind Allen's other senses, the wild thoughts he had, even rendering his mental map of the area useless.

The whirlwind of panic and the replaying memory of the akuma's skull cracking and collapsing beneath his fist nearly blocked out the sound of approaching footsteps, much louder and faster than the others. The abruptness of them launched Allen back into action, tripping over his own feet as he raced for the sword and snatched it, quickly bringing it up to swing it at whatever was there.

"Allen!"

He froze mid-movement, the weight of the sword offsetting him and pulling his arm sharply down until the metal of the blade hit the floor. Allen looked up, wild-eyed at Cross, who was staring at him with widened eyes and body poised.

"What the hell…" Cross started, but then his stare hardened, and he lunged his hand out and snatched Allen by the jaw, pulling him close and ignoring his startled yells. "Hold still, what's on your… is that _blood_?!"

It felt like his lungs were collapsing on themselves, and Allen couldn't do anything but try and catch his breath. Cross caught on almost immediately, and he removed his hand from Allen's face before wrapping his arms around him, suffocating and stifling but everything that made Allen's skin stop crawling with chills.

When Allen finally heard himself breathing, he could hear the strain it came with, and Allen tipped his head forward, his mind slowly draining of the panic he felt but still lingering with confusion and dread.

After a few moments, he breathed out, "Akuma got in," and at once he felt Cross's body tense before he pulled away.

His eye looked Allen over quickly, and with a stray hand he reached up and tried to wipe away some of the blood, only to hiss and draw back his hand, ripping his glove from his hand and tossing it aside, the material of the glove beginning to erode.

Cross stared at it, then up at Allen, expression torn between horror and shock.

"What…"

Allen blinked up at him, but then turned and looked at his coat that was just lying on the floor. Following his eyes, Cross marched towards it, stepping over the melting body in the doorway before picking up the coat. His eyebrows pulled together as his lips pressed in a firm line, but then he stood up and recited the proper words to make the corpses evaporate, leaving behind an open cavity in the wall, the wood at the very edges splintering.

The coat had several holes in it, and Allen recoiled at the sight of it. It was Lavi's coat, and he'd managed to ruin it.

"Oh… I…" Allen started, but then Cross turned, the look on his face silencing Allen instantly.

"Don't. I don't know what happened but all that matters is that you're alive. We can figure out why you're apparently immune to akuma poison later, but for now…" Cross turned his head back towards the room, but then paused. When he finally spoke, it was with disbelief. "What is that…"

Allen followed his eye, and catching sight of the bug, he perked up slightly. "I found it outside… it followed me when I had to run away from the akuma."

Cross stared at Allen for a minute before he gave a heavy sigh. "Do you even know what that is?"

Blinking, Allen looked back at the thing, which apparently summoned it as it flew over to him. He let it land on his head, Cross looking even more shocked.

"What?" Allen asked, feeling out of touch.

As soon as he said that, Cross tilted his head back, as though asking some heavenly creature if it was seeing this. Seeing he was being made fun of, even if less spectacularly than he expected, Allen frowned and absently began playing with the thing's tail as it fell over his shoulder. The distraction was helping with the racing of his heart, but he could still feel the lingering tightness around his organs.

After a moment, Allen figured that Cross was waiting for an answer, and thought deeply about it.

Frowning uneasily, Allen's voice wavered, suddenly second-guessing himself on his judgement and decided on the seeming less-stupid option in his mind. "Is… is this a pigeon?"

Cross gave an even louder exasperated groan, but it soon devolved into soft laughter, almost in disbelief. He then quickly shook his head and turned towards the door. "Okay, first thing's first, are there other akuma around?"

Allen blinked and sat up a little straighter. "Um… no… I don't think so…"

"Okay," Cross nodded his head once, "did you encounter anything else?"

Remembering the shadow in the trees, Allen cringed and tensed his shoulders. "There was someone outside. I couldn't see them but they started killing akuma… but they kind of targeted me, too."

Cross watched Allen for a moment before quietly asking, "You hurt?"

Allen shook his head. "No."

Cross was quiet for a moment before he huffed. "Where did you see them?"

"By the river," Allen answered, and Cross immediately tossed the coat at him.

"Put that on. We're going to do a perimeter check, and while we're out there, I'm going to set up a security system." Cross pointed at the thing on Allen's head. "That thing is going to help us with that. He's got the proper programming to work with the sensors I have."

As Cross talked, Allen slowly slid on the coat, the creature jumping down into his hood. "He… has programming?"

"He's a golem," Cross said quickly, and with a look across Allen's features and seeing no recognition, he continued, "a tool used by the Order. It's a combination of machinery and organic matter that can do anything from using radio signals to take photos or video. That particular one, actually," Cross wrinkled his nose, "was one _I_ made."

Allen's eyes widened. "You… made him?"

"Yeah, and his name's Timcanpy. I made him and lent him to someone. Remember the twins? He was lent to one of them." At once, Cross sneered. "Of course, it had to be the jackass brother…"

"Why do you say that?" Allen asked as Timcanpy ruffled around in his hood.

Cross made a sound of disgust. "You don't want to know."

' _Then why did you bring it up?_ ' Allen thought, but didn't dare to say. After so much violence and mayhem that day, the last thing Allen wanted to do was make Cross angry and violent.

However, as Cross started out of the room, he was grumbling, "God… how did you find yet another of that guy's shit? First his sword, now this… you're either an idiot detector or some kind of human treasure map." He stopped and turned to Allen, "Oh, and don't let Tim get eaten. Animals think he looks delicious and it's honestly a miracle he hasn't been eaten out here."

Allen followed Cross out to the room without comment, suddenly feeling like he was dreaming.

Between Timcanpy, the person outside, the akuma, and Cross… it felt all too strange to happen so close together.

Instead of focusing on Allen, though, Cross dug through his case until he brought out a few small devices. As he started to leave the building, Allen followed, only to have Cross stop and turn to glare at him.

"What will you be doing when you're following me?" Cross looked over Allen like he was looking for a particular answer, or possibly looking for hidden injuries, but the last thing Allen wanted was for Cross to think he shouldn't go with him.

"I'll be a bullshit detector," he said determinedly.

Something about how he said it quirked at Cross's lip, like he wanted to laugh, but some sort of stubbornness refused him.

"Don't swear," he said briefly, though there wasn't an ounce of seriousness to his tone. He started towards the tree line as soon as they left the house, Allen close at his heels as he tried to sense more akuma, still coming up empty and wondering if the strange shadow would be gone, too.

Finding himself useless, Allen asked, "So… what are _you_ going to do?"

"Find that asshole and put a bullet in him, take down any lingering akuma, and put up sensors so we can keep a closer eye on things," Cross said, looking over his shoulder. "Now that we have a golem, I can actually use these."

Timcanpy flapped his wings once, tickling Allen's ear and making him snicker despite the uneasy atmosphere.

"I like him," Allen said quietly, reaching up to lightly pet Timcanpy's surprisingly squishy face. "He's nice."

Cross only scoffed, but he didn't say anything more.


	12. Chapter 12

"Bring up your arm," Cross ordered, his hands balled up in fists as they stayed in front of his chest.

Allen did just as he was told, breathing somewhat heavily as the sweat stuck to his forehead and the rest of his face, the cool air of the house refreshing against his skin that felt like it was burning. Giving a firm nod, Allen blocked a hit from Cross and then twisted around, swinging his leg in an arch to slam into Cross's side, though the man caught it before it connected.

"Good enough," Cross muttered, releasing Allen and letting them get back into their fighting stances, "we'll work on your speed but at least you're blocking."

A small smile at being praised pulled at Allen's lips, though it was immediately wiped away when Cross struck at him again, a breeze passing across Allen's scalp before he ducked back, swiping his leg upwards and throwing Cross's arm back. At seeing his opening, Allen jumped forward, and with his only arm, threw it forward with as much strength he could with his palm open.

When Cross hit the floor, Allen was struck with awe, his jaw dropped and eyes alight with glee, though Cross, once he had collected himself, stopped staring widely and instead only huffed.

"I… I did it!" Allen beamed.

"You did," Cross got to his feet, a little slow, but they had been training for over an hour, now. "Good instinct on your strike, just make sure you know what to do _after_ you knock your opponent on their ass." Before Allen could ask what he should do, Cross dropped his hand on the top of Allen's head, pushing his weight down on him as Allen yelped and tried to escape from under him. "We'll work on that tomorrow, but we're stopping for the day. Don't be cocky about this, though."

"I wasn't being cocky!" Allen griped, shoving Cross's hand away, though he was bitter when he saw that Cross had _pulled_ it away, and Allen hadn't actually done anything to loosen his hold.

As Cross walked towards the kitchen, he fixed and adjusted his dress shirt before turning and leaning against the counter, a tired and self-suffering groan escaping his lips that caused to Allen roll his eyes as he went to pick up his beanie from the floor. It was too hot to train in it, and though Allen felt a little silly being without it when Cross was around with his wily red mane, he preferred being silly than feeling like he was dirtying his clothes and getting hot and stuffy when he didn't need to.

The beanie was still soft, as Allen made sure it was washed with care so as to preserve as much of its substance as possible. It only made it worse that it was _borrowed_ , the thought of which making Allen frown solemnly. It'd only been a few weeks, but Allen already felt like he couldn't remember what Lavi sounded or looked like anymore, despite his memories being as crisp as the frost outside.

"Your hair's growing out," Cross suddenly said, shattering Allen's train of thought and making him jolt before looking up at the man. Having Allen's attention, Cross smirked and held up his forefinger and thumb, nearly touching them together, "Very little. You still look like a child."

"Master!" Allen yelled, exasperation now coming off him in waves.

Putting the beanie down, Allen stormed to the bathroom. There was no running water so they had to bring it in a container from outside in order to bathe, but at the very least Allen could wipe the sweat off his skin the best he could. He took off the half-shirt – the blood on it now a distant memory and an occasional flash within a nightmare – and he placed it on the sink before taking a rag to start cleaning his skin, the icy water overrunning him with goosebumps while his teeth chattered. As he wiped his brow clean, however, his eyes focused on the mirror, and, more acutely, to the top of his head.

He was still sickeningly pale, and Allen wondered if that would ever change to make his scar look any less vivid, but as he placed the rag on the counter and replaced his fingers at the crown of his head, he blinked as he brushed some of the short locks away from his forehead

Well, Cross was right, but he could do without the teasing.

It was strange; he thought it would be obvious when his hair grew out, but neither he or Cross ever noticed until it was already this long. The white color blended in with his skin almost too well, and even when it was just over an inch or two long, Allen still did double-takes at the mirror.

Lightly pouting at his reflection for looking so childish, Allen dropped his hand and resumed what he was doing until he found himself to be clean enough, replacing his shirt and gathering a larger, thicker one from the small closet and pulling it over his head, albeit a little clumsily.

Allen wished he could do something with the limp sleeve at his side, but deciding he'd rather not have Cross just rip it off, he kept the wish to himself as he returned to the main living area, Cross already taking a drink from a darkly colored bottle.

The bottle's contents were a mystery, and Allen couldn't help but stare at it as he wondered. After a few moments, however, Cross's eye caught him staring, and his expression all but twisted into a hostile snarl.

"No."

"No what?" Allen asked defensively, immediately backing up. "Master, I don't even know what that is!"

Cross dramatically waved the bottle at him. "This? It's booze. It's off limits to you."

The word didn't register in Allen's head, and he could only blink in confusion as he stared at Cross for a few moments. "Booze?"

"Yeah, like wine, whiskey, brandy…" Cross slowly lifted the bottle to his lips before adding on, "beer…"

The assortment of drinks finally clicked in Allen's head: alcohol. Of course, he didn't know anything else about it, other than its medical uses, and he couldn't help his curiosity as he slunk forward, peering over Cross as he pursed his lips. "Does it taste good?"

Instead of answering, Cross just reached out and flicked Allen's nose, "Go do something! If you're so restless then we'll have to start moving again."

Holding his nose and standing up straight, Allen frowned. "I mean… don't we have to anyway because of the akuma?"

"You forget that we have Timcanpy hooked up to an alarm system and that you're our personal akuma detector." Cross took another drink. "And as long as both those things work and that guy you saw isn't camping nearby, we should be fine."

"Tim…" Allen repeated softly before lighting up with a smile. "Oh! I can go play with him now, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Cross waved him off. "Go play with that stupid man's golem."

Pouting, Allen made his way to the back bedroom, throwing a "You said _you_ made him, master, so he's yours!" over his shoulder as he did so, only hearing Cross as he loudly exclaimed, "Bah!". The tone made Allen burst into a small fit of giggles, only just being able to mask them so the man wouldn't hear.

Inside the office room, Timcanpy was settled on a pile of extra clothes that didn't fit either Cross or Allen, simply set aside so they wouldn't be mixed up with theirs. As Allen entered the room, the golem perked up and all but leapt off the pile of clothes, speeding over to Allen's face where it buzzed about excitedly.

Giggling at the golem, Allen held out his hand for Tim to land on, bringing him close to his face so he could nuzzle him gently. "Tim, I'm all done so we can go play. What do you wanna do?"

Pulling his hand from his face, Allen saw as Tim perched himself only to growl quietly, baring those sharp teeth again that left Allen laughing quietly. "No, we can't eat! Master's in charge of getting food and you know we can't trust him to find more if we eat too much!"

Timcanpy growled again, but then jumped into the air and fluttered before darting down the hallway. Allen couldn't hold back a smile as he chased after him.

In the main room, the golem was fluttering by the windows like he wanted out, and Allen quickly ran to put on his coat and beanie, being flooded with comfort when he put it over his head. Cross merely watched him and didn't question where they were going, and simply let them leave, erasing any nerves Allen had as he followed the golem out and into the snow-covered trees.

Ever since the barriers were put up, they hadn't had any issues with trespassers or akuma, offering a respite from it all that eased Allen's worries about being surprised again. His ability to remember the purification spell had gotten much better, and his hand-to-hand capabilities had also been improving. To make it better, Cross seemed honestly impressed with Allen's ability to wield the great sword, even if briefly and under a rush of adrenaline, though he told Allen not to try throwing it around again until he built up some strength in his upper body.

"The last thing we need is you pulling a muscle or somehow dislocating your shoulder," Cross had said, and Allen kept that in mind whenever he thought about secretly practicing with the blade. Without a reason to actively use it, it seemed too impractical, anyway.

The hazy skies were barely tinted blue, the clouds threatening to spill snow over the land again, even when the trees were already looking like they were at their limits. The white was only broken by the green pine needles and the varying shades of tree bark, though Allen kept his eyes out for anything out of the ordinary. With his left eye, akuma wouldn't be able to sneak up on them, but they weren't just worrying about akuma anymore.

Timcanpy fluttered ahead of him, seeming perfectly content to be leading his new friend through the woods, and luckily he wasn't too quick, letting Allen take his time over slippery sections of ground and trying to climb over fallen logs or branches.

Soon they came to the place where he and Cross had placed the barriers, seeing the small tag that Cross had lodged into the bark of a tree. The tag stopped Allen in his tracks and forced Timcanpy to follow suit. They looked at the invisible wall that separated what was safe and what was not, but then Allen turned to the side and started following the barrier, being careful not to cross it when he needed to get around an obstacle.

Despite their trek, Timcanpy always hovered right by the barriers, like he wanted to go beyond them, but Allen didn't let him.

"We have to stay over here, Timcanpy," Allen tried to reason with the golem, but he didn't know if it could even understand him.

As Allen stepped over a rocky ledge that sharply dipped, his foot scuffed the ground, his hand snatching a tree branch to keep from completely losing his footing. He took small steps down a slab of rock before having to carefully traverse the snow below, opening into a small clearing of trees with only spidery bushes between them. The remaining foliage brushed stiffly against Allen's legs, leaving strips of frost across his pantlegs that stubbornly stuck.

Allen turned around to get a look of the area, perfectly pleased. His eyes fell onto a bending tree, its branching low-hanging despite having very little snow on it, not even bobbing in the breeze as it pulled through.

"It's cold, isn't it?"

The voice brushed past Allen's ear, whipping his head around in search for the source, feeling like it should be right behind him. "Wh-What?"

"You shouldn't be out here, you'll get sick _._ "

Breathing heavily, Allen brought his hand to the collar of his coat, anxiously working his fingers into the fabric as he slowly turned in circles. "Who's there? Where are you?"

"Over here! Just through the trees… I wouldn't get in it, but it's warm here, so…"

Allen tried to stay quiet, his breathing quick and shallow, though it quickly drew quiet as he waited and listened.

" _Hurry up!_ "

The words stung Allen's ears, and he held his palm over one while he shoved his shoulder against the other, turning where he heard the voice from before he glanced up at Timcanpy.

The golem only stared at him, unwavering and simply waiting, his wings flapping without much effort and his expressionless face giving away nothing. Frowning at the lack of a reaction, Allen turned back to the source of the voice and began to follow where it led, climbing over a couple of large rocks and down a finely made trail that was cut into them. As Allen treaded down the path, he noticed defined steps beneath the snow, and he tried to follow it as accurately as he could, though the snow seemed to make up any difference the missteps may have made.

At the bottom of the path, a group of trees had grown together to form a barrier, Allen having to duck down and carefully push past it, Timcanpy tucking himself under his arm until he came to the other side.

It was if he walked into another season.

Several large pools of shivering water were collected there, steam gently trailing off the surface of the water like foggy, white flames. It made the area cloudy, but as Allen stepped to the water's edge, he could see the pebbles beneath the water more clearly than if he were looking through the cleanest glass.

" _It's so pretty, I wish we could live here…_ "

Allen's head popped up, and he continued looking around.

" _There's even the house nearby… but it's too close. It's all too close…_ "

" _Let's warm up here then go back. Together. Like we always do._ "

Feeling his breath still, Allen tried to focus on where the sound was coming from, his blood chilling when he discovered it was emanating from behind him.

"Be careful so you don't slip _._ "

Whirling around, Allen expected to catch someone there, but was only met by steam. His foot slipped on the rounded edge of a stone, and he was sent crashing into the warm water, and while he wanted to panic and leap out, he found himself melting into it, eyes wide at just how _warm_ it was.

"Didn't he just warn you? Are you okay _?_ "

"Y-Yeah…" Allen said softly, continuing to search. His eyes found Timcanpy, who was fluttering about anxiously, and Allen gave him a smile before he sat up, shivering from the sharp change in temperatures.

"Be more careful… I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself, you know? We're a long way from… anything, really _._ "

"Sorry…" Allen whispered, getting back to his feet as he started around the pool, wondering if maybe the person's voice was carrying. "Where are you?"

Something clinked under Allen's boot, and as he looked down and removed it, he noticed something shining in the water. Allen bent down and picked up the thin rim of metal, blinking at the single circle of glass and the lightning-like crack going through it.

"Ah, dammit, did you break your glasses _?_ "

Allen's brow furrowed, and he looked up. "These aren't mine."

" _No, no, don't worry, we'll get you new ones in the city, okay? Until then we'll just help you get around._ "

It was hard to breathe, and Allen straightened up, holding the frame in his hands as gingerly as possible. "I don't need help… I don't even know who you are."

" _Nah, don't worry about it. We don't need to go home, so it'll be us three for a while, I guess. Just you, me, and_ _ **Mana**_ _._ "

The name was like a sharp jab to Allen's mind, and the glasses slipped from his fingers as he stumbled on the pebbles, the ground sliding out from under him. He fell to his knees, the hot water soaking surging around his legs and soaking the fabric of his pants.

' _We'll take care of you._ '

' _Take care of him._ '

' _You can trust me._ '

' _We're here for you._ '

' _I can't do this…_ '

' _Don't make me do this…_ '

Two voices spoke over each other, echoing one another but not feeling like they acknowledged the other voice. As they rabbled and spoke, suddenly Allen couldn't breathe, his lungs rattling with every flex of his ribcage. His eyes locked with the ones in his reflection, silver eyes echoing the fog that which surrounded him, though in the water that quickly became like glass again, he noticed something in the reflection behind him.

He ripped his eyes from their mirror image as he jerked his head up, eyes widening as he saw the shape of a man, free of all details except for the ends of his clothing and key angles that brought out a humanoid shape. Every time Allen tried to focus, his sight went blurry, unable to see past the fog and the strange glow that seemed to encapsulate everything there. He saw it, though, when the man opened his mouth, and Allen knew the shaking voice.

"I'm so sorry…"

With a sharp jab to the back of his neck, the world went white, whiter than snow or the fog that surrounded him, and it was as if time had just stopped. There was a ringing in the air, and Allen didn't know what was causing it, but he couldn't think, couldn't focus as the world around him fell away into oblivion.

The heat around him and the sudden inability to breathe evaporated into the same numbness, the feeling of every distinct pebble under him dissolving away, as well, and even the feeling of his own hand, grappling at himself in search for an anchor, was gone. Just the ringing was left, the ringing and the fading sight of tears that cut him down easier than any blade, but hurt twice as much.

But then it was all gone, replaced by the sound of his own breathing and echoed by indistinguishable noises. They passed by his head, and he tried to follow them, but he couldn't turn his head or look. It was all white, but soon it quickly faded into static, a muddle of tiny specs that moved and rustled together like insects, spreading to his skin that made him want to squirm against the feeling, like as though every part of his body and his skin had fallen asleep.

When his eyes finally remembered how to work, he could see a ceiling over his head, the familiar strokes of paint visible as well as the beams of wood that held up the roof. Allen slowly blinked, unable to do so any faster, a shaky breath pulling loudly between his teeth.

Immediately, when the sound hit the air, Cross was beside him, Timcanpy a half-deflated blob on his shoulder, seeming to be trembling just slightly.

The storm in Cross's eye was frightening, but at the same time it felt like Allen was at the eye of it, the whirlwind of madness only circling him like a rotating wall. Cross's brow wrinkled with indecisiveness, and then a tired sigh left his lips before he bent over and fixed one side of Allen's collar. Allen wanted to move, to speak, but he was unable to, his eyes flickering around anxiously when he realized it.

When Cross noticed the growing panic in his eyes, he reached out and held down Allen's shoulder, despite it not doing anything when he was already paralyzed.

"You overloaded," Cross said slowly, giving Allen time to process it, "and you're still in shock from it. Don't think, don't try and make lists of questions, don't do _anything_." He paused, even if it was just to collect his thoughts, but Allen only looked to him worriedly, already going against Cross's instructions, but the man couldn't hear his thoughts, and after a moment of silence, he continued. "You can tell me what happened later, but for now, you're in critical condition. Let your mind recover, and you'll be able to move and speak again, but if you _keep thinking_ , you might put yourself back into a coma."

Cross stopped himself, then, eye wide and muscles tense, but then he pulled away, huffing through his teeth. "You're lucky Tim was there… just get some sleep so you don't ruin your own chances of recovery."

Allen blinked at him, and Cross curled his lip with a scoff.

"I'll fucking tell you everything else _after_ you're not a piece of roadkill. Just sleep, you moron."

As though to make it final, Cross tossed the top of a blanket over Allen's nose, and then he realized that he was laying on an assortment of cushions that were dragged out just for him. There was a thick blanket over him, but he couldn't feel its warmth.

Cross went to the other side of the room, and Allen was thankful that he was trying to remain quiet. The silence gave Allen a chance to attempt to sleep, but it was hard as his thoughts found the moment to surge and rage, building up to remember the memories that were in the midst of destroying themselves. The source of his overload, he couldn't remember, but he could see the frown, hear the voice that seemed too clear when he closed his eyes.

It wouldn't be so bad if he could actually tire himself out enough to sleep.

* * *

 **AN: Can I just say that I want to print out every comment I get on this and show it to everyone I know just because I love them so much? Because I do and I can't stop gushing over them.**

 **Also, this is one of my favorite chapters so I'm happy I got it done on schedule.**

 **∠( ᐛ 」∠** **)＿**


	13. Chapter 13

In the end, Allen had taken longer than he'd admit to finally fall asleep, and when he woke up, he could move, though doing so was slow and awkward. It was as though his bones grown stuck together, like he had been motionless for ages, and every movement jostled and released the sand between his joints. At seeing him beginning to move, Cross hurried over to assist him, pulling him up until he was sitting, but refusing to let him stand.

Allen opened his mouth to complain, but then felt Cross press his fingers firmly behind Allen's ear, freezing him in place just from the placement, the intimacy immediately off-putting. His wide eyes were met with apathy, and then Cross grumbled and pulled his hand back.

"We need to find Bookman…"

Already? "Why?"

"A bred-unit is specifically made to take in information quickly and use it almost just as fast," Cross murmured, "but your upload apparently failed, and you could be more defective than that."

A chill ran down Allen's spine, and his muscles tightened involuntarily, speaking slowly to make sure it came out clear, his mouth still feeling numb. "How… bad is it?"

"You shouldn't be overloading anymore; you're too old," Cross muttered, returning his fingers to the spot behind Allen's ear, making his face grimace. "You've already taken in more information than you could ever get in those woods… this doesn't make sense..."

Surprising him, Cross bent down to be level with Allen, placing his other hand on the opposite side of Allen's head, holding his head firmly in place while he looked him in the eye. Cross's only eye flickered back and forth from both of Allen's, piercing and searching, and it made goosebumps flurry over Allen's arms and the back of his neck.

Cross' voice was low, and he murmured quietly but sternly, "What triggered it?"

The mention of _it_ put Allen on edge right away, his thoughts beginning to panic, but Allen forced them to calm as he took a breath and pressed his lips into a thin line. He thought about his words carefully and made sure that his own facial muscles worked properly before he attempted to voice his ideas.

There was a lengthy pause while he connected his thoughts, and then he frowned. "I don't know… but I… I saw somebody…"

Alarm set over Cross's expression. "Who did you see? Was it the same guy you saw before?"

"I… I don't know…" Allen frowned, not feeling like the answer was entirely true, but then he winced, "but… he knew me…"

Cross inched closer, and he took a forcefully steady breath, "Explain." After the words left his mouth, Cross jolted, and quickly added on, "Carefully. I don't want you frying yourself again, got it?"

Allen nodded slowly, as much as Cross's hands allowed, "He called my name… or I thought he did, but…" a dull throb of pain rang through his head, and he winced, fighting back a hiss even if it trailed into his voice, "I don't know… my memories are…"

His memories… He remembered the ponds, the clouded steam and water that was so crystal clear that he could see the gravely bottom of each body of water. Timcanpy had flown ahead of him to the warmth that surrounded the water and threatened the snow at its edges, and Allen had followed.

Except… Timcanpy wasn't the one that led him to the water…

Allen couldn't remember why he had walked down that path and to the water's edge, nor what happened as he reached it, and he felt his blood run cold at the realization. His muscles locked up, eyes large as he pulled his gaze up to Cross, the sudden movement startling the man to increase his grip on Allen as he began to tremble. Allen could feel and hear his own breathing quickening, the depth of his lungs getting smaller and smaller.

"My memories… I don't remember…" Allen said numbly, eyes flickering to try and remember the key details, only to have them vanish just as he felt he found them.

"What?!" Cross barked, dropping his hands to Allen's shoulders, their grip painful enough to make Allen wince and attempt to pull back, only for Cross's fingers to latch on tighter. "Your memories are what?! Speak more clearly, Allen!"

"I-I..!" Allen squeaked, his voice beginning to shake, "What happened when I left yesterday… I can remember but… it's like every time I think back, I remember less and less."

"Is it just that moment you can't remember?"

The graveness in Cross's voice was enough to rival a funeral, and it offset Allen enough to make him hesitate before he nodded, his eyes falling to his lap.

"Yes… I… think everything else is fine…"

The answer didn't seem to offer Cross much relief, but he still released Allen's shoulders and sat back, a deep and angry breath leaving his bared teeth as he jerked his glare to the wall, like it was the one responsible. His hands fell to his lap, gripping the fabric of his pants tight enough that Allen worried he'd rip them, but then Cross stood and stormed across the room to the fireplace. He stopped, hands balled at his sides, but then he reeled one back to deliver a blow. Allen readied for the sound of fist punching brick, turning his head away from it, but there was no sound of impact, and when Allen chanced to look back, he only saw Cross's palm against the wall, his breath much louder but quickly calming.

"We'll find Bookman…" the man said to himself, "he can fix this…"

"He… can he?" Fear filled Allen's voice, rendering it nearly silent.

For a second, when Cross looked over his shoulder, he almost looked apologetic, but then his gaze regained its stoic nature as he turned around, resting his shoulders against the brick. "Yeah, he can… he used to work with units all the time. Not as much as the scientists, but he at least fixed the broken ones."

Allen wished he didn't notice the way his body tensed up at Cross's words. "Scientists?"

"I won't tell you more," Cross said gruffly before he grabbed his coat and stormed towards the door. "Tim, watch him. If anything happens, come get me."

With that, Allen was alone, the door slamming behind Cross as he left. Timcanpy slowly fluttered down to Allen's side, looking up at him while Allen couldn't pull his eyes away from the door. It was snowing outside, and he could feel the cold winds beginning to pull against the house; Allen tried his best not to let it get to him.

He was on ice, and he didn't know just how thick it was beneath his feet. As he sat there, he felt heat in his eyes, a strange, but oddly familiar heat.

The collar taught them what they were, and he'd seen them in the eyes of the ghosts, and he'd seen them being held back in Cross's eyes when talking about the people of his past, but this was the first time Allen could feel the tears by themselves with no physical pain to accompany them.

They fell down his cheeks, and he hated the way it made them sticky, the heat being replaced by the chill of cold air, only for the heat to return by another wave of tears.

Something was wrong with him. He was broken and Cross didn't know how to fix him. He was a unit designed to kill and be a soldier, nothing else. That monster wanted him bad enough he was willing to mutilate him to make him "a perfect accommodator". He couldn't help the subtle tremble in his hands when he tried to think of what Cross would be so panicked over when they dealt with his chest wound easily, what would drive him to be so scared when he was seemingly always so stable. Allen could lose more of his memories, and if that kept happening, then what would he be? Would he still be Allen? Would he care for the others as much as he did now? Would they care for him even if he wasn't 'Allen'? Or would his fragile bonds to the others be cut free entirely?

He hiccupped, and Timcanpy bounced up to interrupt his thoughts with a well-placed bump against his cheek. It worked, and Allen let his tears run their course while he held onto Timcanpy, not letting him go, though the golem had no intention of leaving, despite his fluttering wings and twitching tail.

The golem waited out his tears until Allen could finally stifle his sniffles and pull himself away, wiping his eyes before he tried to think of something to do. His mind was numb, but it was still surging with unpleasant thoughts. Allen's hand raised to where Cross was feeling before, and pressing behind his ear he felt a surge of heat like he was feverish. Grimacing, Allen ripped his hand away, and as he had nothing but bad things to think of, he needed a distraction.

When he looked around the empty house, with small and shallow erosions in every surface, he couldn't find the distraction that he needed.

"Tim…" Allen murmured, looking down to the golem, "I'm going to… try and stand up."

Timcanpy took to the air and fluttered around, adjusting positions but not moving to stop Allen, who took it as permission to try. Placing his hand beneath him, he pushed up with it as well as his legs, though when he removed his hand, he wobbled, and he harshly bit his lip in hopes he wouldn't collapse. Luckily, his legs held his weight, and he pushed himself fully upright, giving himself ample time to maintain his balance.

He took a step, and Timcanpy followed him, landing on his left shoulder with another ruffle of his wings. Allen gently smiled at him before he took another step, finding it was a good distraction, so he walked in different strides to stretch his legs and test how much he'd recovered. When he stretched his legs out as far as they could go, however, he discovered that it was his limit and toppled over onto the mattress Cross had dragged out, making him sigh shakily with relief when he wasn't met with hardwood floors, Timcanpy growling at him from above.

Despite the small fall, Allen got up again, much faster this time, and he walked over to an uncovered window and peeked out. He didn't know where Cross went, but he hoped he wouldn't be gone long. Even through the snow and the haze of the glass, he could see that the sky was threatening to go dark on them, and he didn't know how Cross would find his way in that situation. With the raging river nearby, too, Allen shuddered at his imagination, immediately putting aside the possibility of disaster.

With no sign of Cross, Allen sighed and began to think of what else he could do, but as he saw a striking of black among the trees, he froze in his motion to pull back from the window.

At first, he couldn't make it out, the remaining glass in the window being shattered and hazy, not allowing much to come through despite simple shapes and colors. He squinted, but then he took a few steps to the side before peering through a slightly clearer part of the glass. As his eyes connected with sharp blue ones, he gasped and collapsed to the floor.

Timcanpy was just as distressed as he was before, fluttering about Allen with his tail entirely bristled. Allen realized too late that he'd missed Timcanpy alerting him to something, and quickly shouted, "Find Cross!" as he whirled away from the window.

The golem hesitated, but then launched into action just as Allen heard crunching snow. He bolted from the window, running towards the back of the house. As he passed the giant sword, left leaning against the wall from the last time the house had been invaded, Allen thought of grabbing it.

Then he remembered the units before, how he was barely able to keep up with them without the extra weight of a blade, and he left it behind to the back room.

Allen slammed the door, but then realized that he just signaled where he was by doing that, cursing himself for doing it a second time and slapping his hand over his face. Pulling it away, though, he quickly began to look around for an alternative hiding place.

From the other side of the house, he heard someone enter, spurring Allen to look at the window of the bedroom. It was broken in, but it was still lined with transparent teeth. There was no room for thought, however, and Allen bolted to the window and attempted to climb through, hissing against the cuts in his palm and his knees as he pulled himself over the glass, leaving red trails behind that splattered in the snow when he fell into it.

An immediate shiver ran through him as he hit the snow, but he didn't hesitate as he got to his feet and started running, eyes searching for anything else that could mean a successful escape.

It wasn't long until he heard glass shattering behind him, and with gritted teeth he willed himself to run faster. His lungs were tight, but he was still moving quickly, the trees passing him in a blur around him. The crunching snow under and behind him was too distracting to finding an escape route with, but not as distracting when he could hear the river getting louder and louder.

All thoughts were cleared from Allen's mind, though, when the river opened up beneath him. Allen gave a shrill scream as he saw the surging water, but it was quickly extinguished when it grabbed his legs and dragged him under. The icy chill racked through him, but then as water filled his mouth and lungs, Allen writhed and tried to find his placement, unable to see or sense anything except the rushing of the river around him.

His body didn't know what to do. It was completely alien and nothing offered itself to him, not even a vague instinct to tell him what his body should even do in this situation.

In the surge, Allen felt something grab his arm, but in the next moment he was pulled above the water. He coughed and retched to clear the liquid from his lungs, but then he was dropped harshly into a pile of snow. He could hardly breathe, his legs burning like they were filled with fire instead of ice. Allen's shoulders shook almost violently, and he could already feel his bare feet and fingers both ringing with pain and yet losing all feeling.

As Allen coughed and tried to remember how to breathe, something moved beside him and drew his eyes over, catching sight of long black clothes and equally long black hair.

Catching sight of the unit, Allen tried to hurry away, but he didn't get very far before the cold made him collapse, his shaking almost making it too difficult to get up again. The unit only studied him for a moment before going to grab him.

Just before his fingers could grab ahold of Allen's shirt, his scar panged and jerked his head to the side, catching sight of a girl pulling herself from the snow. Her long and wavy hair was matted, greasy, and so dark brown that it appeared to be black. She turned her face towards them, her eyes void of everything but white. She locked onto Allen, but then turned her attention to the unit and began to approach him. Before she could take even a second step, the unit whipped around, the glint of his sword flashing before the akuma fell to pieces, its ghost whispering a quiet word of gratitude before disappearing.

Allen slowly blinked before looking up at the unit, though he was immediately tense again when it turned back to him with a livid glower.

It was all it took for Allen to cement the idea that he needed to run. If he picked a direction and stuck to it he would find Cross sooner or later, so he forced himself to his feet and stumbled away, his feet numb and cold and unwilling to move. Allen could barely make a few awkward steps before he was grabbed again, and he unleashed a hoarse and shrill scream.

"Shut up," the unit growled behind him, as he roughly shook Allen to silence him.

Allen's scream was choked off at the rough handling, but then he felt the unit lift him off the ground, and despite the immediate relief that came from his legs, he writhed with the vertigo that overtook him. Regardless of the unit's intentions, Allen knew they wouldn't be good, so even if it hurt he knew that he needed to be let Allen go.

"L-Let me go!" Allen said shrilly, and he tried to keep fighting, but then the unit harshly threw him in the snow. The world spun around him until it came to a too-sudden stop, feeling snow fall down on top of him from the trees above him.

Still, even with the snow, Allen tried to use the chance to flee and dragged himself up again. He aimed for the shadow of the trees ahead of him, his eyes focused only on the shadows that came from the branches of heavily loaded pine trees.

His legs were heavy and numb from the cold that enveloped his clothes, and Allen stumbled and fell again, his lungs tight and painful, making it difficult to breathe. It only got worse when the unit behind him grabbed the back of his shirt, but when Allen tried to twist himself around to deliver a kick, a sharp pain rang up his spine, and suddenly his body was as heavy as lead and dropping. The unit pulled him back, and Allen tried again to attack him, to throw a punch that could even barely knock him even slightly off balance, but not even the muscles in his arm flexed, and Allen was left staring at the unit, who stared at him back.

"What? You done?" the unit said bitterly, and Allen couldn't even blink at him.

He couldn't move.

The unit waited for any sort of response, and with a confused squint of his eyes, he gave Allen a single shake, but getting no response, he leaned down to stare intensely at him.

After several minutes, the unit sighed harshly before pulling Allen completely off the ground, having to replace his sword to its sheath before holding Allen more confidently. It was uncomfortable, and Allen wanted to struggle and make himself fall, but he found himself unable to even make himself breathe heavier than he wanted, and the shaking in his body fell suspiciously still.

Had he overloaded? Allen wasn't sure on that, either, but he didn't know what to call being paralyzed like this, and yet still be conscious. Like this, he couldn't even yell for Cross, and only hope that the man had heard him scream and was on his way. Like this, Allen couldn't even talk to the unit to try and figure out why the unit was chasing him so determinedly, or even attempt to convince him to let him go.

With even the bite of the ice and water gone, the buildup of frost nonexistent to his nerves, Allen felt the shock from the left side of his face return, and he immediately tried to find the akuma. It was close, and it was heading their way, but Allen couldn't even warn the unit carrying him, give any warning to him before they could both die.

The lack of autonomy to even grit his teeth or brace himself made time move more slowly. As the unit marched through the snow, every powdery crunch serving to prove to Allen that time was actually moving, Allen's eyes couldn't even flicker back and forth, to search more effectively and only able to rely on his peripheral vision. Everything remained gray and white, the snow and the unsaturated bark of trees providing both the perfect backdrop to find something in and yet made it also impossible as every tree then looked like a figure.

The akuma had moved swiftly to get close to them, but it made no sound and Allen couldn't see it until it was right upon them. It burst from the trees, moving more like a ghost than a creature, and as soon as it revealed itself, the unit hissed and fumbled with Allen before just dropping him in the snow. Above him, Allen saw the glint of metal as the unit withdrew his blade and swung, the akuma nimbly dodging before lunging forward again for another attempt.

The akuma completely ignored Allen, and as it reached over him to get closer to the unit, Allen saw as it opened its mouth, spotting rows of long, shining white teeth, the jaws unhinging to provide them with enough room to find purchase on something.

The unit didn't back away and instead rammed the sword into the akuma's gaping mouth, piercing it through the back of its head. Despite the injury, the akuma was still alive and moving, its ghost prevalent and hovering clearly above its body. The akuma tried to use the position to push itself forward, to at least take the unit's hand, but with a click of his tongue, the unit twisted his blade and swiped it up, slicing the top of the akuma's head into two halves before he slashed it horizontally. Finally, the ghost vanished, its body beginning to seemingly burn away as it fell into the snow.

Allen was too close to the body, but the unit yanked Allen back by his arm to avoid the toxic blood and flesh as it sloppily fell apart.

"Fuckin' akuma…" the unit growled, but after swiping the blade through the end of his coat to clear off some of the erosive mess, he tucked the sword back into its sheath and ducked down, gathering up Allen again.

The unit didn't speak again, and Allen felt the throws of awkwardness at the imbalance. He couldn't speak or respond in any way, and the unit was glowering ahead of them like Allen wasn't even there. Or, at least, it felt like he was ignoring Allen entirely, but after a few minutes of silent walking, the unit snapped his attention down to Allen, a slightly conflicted look on his face.

"Can you talk yet?" the unit asked, and Allen hated that he couldn't respond at all, and after a moment, the unit sighed and marched ahead quicker.

"Fuck… you'll freeze to death…"

Allen's mind sparked with alarm, but the unit didn't continue the topic out loud.

The trees opened up in front of them, giving way to the large road that Allen could vaguely recall leading to the facility up north, a strange feeling coming of the realization that it was the same place where he had met this unit to begin with. Was the unit taking him there? Allen couldn't guess, but as the unit's boots thunked on the asphalt of the road, the sound coming through the thin layer of snow covering it, Allen noted that they were heading to the opposite side and not following it anywhere.

At the other side, Allen belatedly noticed what appeared to be a large concrete block. The block was somewhat crumbling, dark marks along its top that rained down the sides like water, a large doorway that lead to what looked like nothing but darkness. As the unit stepped in, though, the shadows quickly climbed to light, and Allen could see the filthy ground that was littered with dirt, leaves, and dried grass. The walls looked like they were leaning, particularly on the left side, and from what Allen could see from outside, there was at least one other room in the structure.

The unit went to the back of the room and sat Allen down, more carefully than he expected, and as the unit looked over him, he seemed at a loss of what to do then.

Then, slowly but surely, the unit took Allen's wrist and lifted it, baring the small cuts and scratches that he had received climbing through the broken window. Allen had completely forgotten about it after falling in the river, but the unit was studying Allen's palm with an expression that looked almost similar to Cross's. It was methodical, partly questioning, but there was definitely some sort of storm or conflict in the unit's mind. It all dropped, though, as he reached into his coat, rummaging for a bit before he drew out a tiny roll of bandages.

He wrapped them clumsily around Allen's hand, the inexperience showing in how much of the roll he used for such a minor injury. As he finished, the unit didn't seem happy with his work, muttering a quiet, "Need water…" before he released Allen's hand. Allen was able to support it somewhat, but the unit barely seemed to notice as he pulled back, the thoughtful look returning to his face before he stood up and turned towards the doorway.

The unit stepped outside and leaned against the door frame, still within view as he seemed to just be idling. Allen willed himself to move, then, to try and expand on the progress he had already made.

With his hand bandaged, Allen couldn't flex his palm, but he was subtly relieved that it was at least bandaged. He looked at it for a moment, and then looked back up to the man, but the unit's attention was already gone to somewhere else. Maybe he was waiting for the Order to pick them up, and if it was true, Allen couldn't guess how long it would take for them to arrive.

Regardless of how long, Allen hoped that Cross would be faster.

Focusing on himself, Allen tried to test his muscles, being able to raise his arm and breathe deeply and purposefully. He moved his legs but didn't try to stand or crawl, though the unit gave no sign of caring for what he did.

It was then that a crackling and static-filled voice filled the room. " _Kanda, what's your status?_ "

As Allen tried to keep testing his muscles, he heard the unit's gruff voice answer, "Unit captured. He overloaded after he fell in the river. Did not lose consciousness."

" _Overloaded?_ " The voice sounded perplexed. " _From what?_ "

"He ran from me and just locked up," was all the unit said.

" _Not good. Stay with him, we'll send a vehicle to come pick you up. We're getting your coordinates now. Is the unit unharmed? You said he fell in the river._ "

"Small cut on his palm, it's not regenerating. And…" the unit looked at Allen, finally, freezing him in place, "I can't tell if he's freezing to death."

" _Ugh… well, at least try to keep him warm. If he's frostbitten or even hypothermic, it can be fixed later. Keep on with your mission,_ _and don't let him sleep if he starts getting lethargic,_ " the crackly voice said just before it vanished, the man sighing as he seemed to put something inside his coat.

Up until then, the silence had been unshakable and deafening, like there truly was no sound and any of it had been distant and muffled by the man's intimidating pressure. However, the silence now was sharp, every sound blaringly loud and dangerous.

The silence made Allen almost unwilling to move, even after the unit – was his name Kanda? – turned away from him again. He wasn't paying attention, and Allen figured even if he stirred, the unit wouldn't care. Still, when Allen attempted to pull up his legs so he could attempt getting at least to his knees, even the imaginary sound of his soles on the ground made him tense.

Then, like a switch was flipped, Allen was racked with shivers, and a startled, shaking breath, pulled from his lips. It created a cloud in front of him, and the sound was enough to draw the unit's eyes to him. He watched as Allen tipped forward, weakly and shakily hugging himself, and with a tight and unhappy expression, the unit turned and started towards him. However, the unit only made it a single step before he fell completely still, turning back towards the doorway where he stood, slowly reaching to the blade at his side.

The unit's fingers curled around the hilt of his sword.

One, two, three seconds.

The unit began dragging the blade from the sheath.

Four, five, six seconds.

The blade gave a gentle clink as it was fully removed from its sheath, the sound the only warning before something crashed into the snow ahead of the building. A flurry of snow exploded into the air, and the unit was forced back into the building. A barrage of metal pieces clattered against the structure, and around the man's shape, Allen spotted things moving outside, their speed too fast even for a unit.

Allen's eye wasn't even burning from an akuma, and with that realization, he racked the area with his eyes until he found the leaning walls, a tiny gap in the concrete that was what seemed like the only chance he had.

Before he moved, a series of gunshots pierced the air, and Allen froze altogether.

 _Cross!_

Allen almost grinned, relief and excitement flooding his body, but as the unit fell further back into the room, blocking whatever was being shot at him with his sword, Allen knew he couldn't relax yet. The distraction let Allen find his way to his feet, the heaviness and numbness in them making it nearly impossible. He stumbled forward, his arm outstretched to use the wall as a crutch, but the unit spotted him just as he reached the gap. Even with the attack, the unit's face getting cut with a small piece of scrap metal, he still lunged for Allen, and Allen barely weaseled his way into the gap in the concrete before the man could grab him. Allen's size made it easy to fit through, while the man struggled and hissed unhappily, having to yank himself free and continue defending himself as whatever attacks were happening much faster now.

As Allen reached the rear of the gap, he fell out and into a small and even more filthy room. He clattered to the ground, his body shivering as he pushed himself into the nearest corner, the lack of space afforded by the tiny room only offering so much comfort when it felt like he was hiding in a closet.

The sounds continued through the walls, blades connecting, the sound of footsteps, then gunshots, and Allen prepared himself for the long haul.

It only lasted for a few minutes, but then he heard a loud crash and a choked yelp, freezing Allen where he was crouched. The sound was followed with an eerie quiet, the clatter of small stones falling to the ground, scuffing of something heavy before it was completely silent. The gunshots and all other sounds also ceased, and Allen found himself even unable to keep shivering.

Did the unit just… die?

It didn't feel natural, nor did it feel safe. Allen didn't try to move, didn't try to check. If it was Cross, he'd call out to Allen, but it wasn't…

It took a few moments, but then the thud of footsteps entered the next room. Allen stopped breathing, listening intently to every quiet step as they came deeper into the room. They stopped after a few steps, and Allen waited.

"That's strange… there was supposed to be two of them," an unfamiliar voice said playfully.

Allen's left eye burned as a ring of akuma appeared all around them.

* * *

 **AN: Sorry for the wait again! Every time I went to work on this it was like the universe conspired to keep me from it! Happy holidays!**


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